LOTR fan fiction part 1 the second beginning
by lava lamp1
Summary: nice and simple. Saruman, before he died, cursed the Orcs to kill ARagorn under all costs. the Orcs became smart and evolved and forms an army in secret, forcing Aragorn onto the run, a reunion w the old fellowship gang, a second beginning...
1. Default Chapter

With a sigh, Legolas added more firewood to the softly blazing fire. Whether Aragorn was asleep or not he could not tell, his breaths seemed even, though. He was lying on a soft rug with his back to Legolas, facing into the woods.  
So Legolas continued to look into the fire, while thinking back to the last few days. The day Sauron fell out of power again and Frodo tossed the ring into the fires of the mountain of doom, Sauron had cast a spell upon all the Orcs, that they go and search for Aragorn, and kill him under all costs. Legolas was now on a journey, taking Aragorn in secret to the prancing pony, where the other members of the original ring-bearers group awaits to discuss further actions.  
Honest to say, Legolas was worried. He had planned to go and visit Fangorn forest with Gimli, and then to the sea. But nothing happened the way they should. Aragorn was forced to leave his throne and onto the run as Orcs stampeded into his palace. Terror did not spread this time, the Orcs were merely aiming for Aragorn, so civilians were safe. But the safety of Aragorn was the most important thing for every single member who participated in the journey to Mordor. There was just too many Orcs for the guards and soldiers to deal with. The truth was, there was no open war. The Orcs were in many hidden places, waiting to attack, body guards were not enough, and the Orcs were too separated to use an army against them. They hid in the gutters, in civilian closets, under bar tables.everywhere. But lately, the Orcs seemed to gain a mind of their own. They are once again gathering, but for an unknown purpose. The purpose became obvious when one of the Orcs was caught and confessed under torture. The Orcs were forming their own army, in another attempt to overtake other races. But this time, no simple ring would stop them. This would eventually lead to war.  
At this point, Aragorn turned around to face Legolas, and Legolas could tell that he was definitely awake.  
"Still worried about lady Arwen?" Legolas asked Aragorn, knowing that there had to be a reason why he was still awake.  
Aragorn did not answer, but the look in his eyes confirmed this question. Without a word, he stared at the fire, watching it cackle on the wood, and his thoughts far off somewhere, where his true love lays.  
"Don't worry." Legolas also looked back into the fire, as if able to see something there. "You've made the right choice. The Orcs were only aiming for you, Lady Arwen should be safe. Besides, you needed someone to look after the humans in middle-earth while you are gone."  
Aragorn merely gave a grunt to signal that he was listening, but gave no more than that. A period of silence followed, when both of them stared into the fire, deep in thought.  
"Tomorrow we meet up with Gimli?" Aragorn asked quietly. It was the first thing he had said all night.  
"Yes. We have no choice but to circle around Helm's Deep into the woods, Helm's Deep provided far too many hiding places for Orcs."  
"Remember our battle in Helm's Deep?" Aragorn recalled with a grim chuckle.  
"It was a fierce one." Legolas replied, remembering back to that battle, where they almost stood against impossible odds. "It was a miracle, also a coincidence."  
"Coincidence?"  
"That we split up with the ringbearer and followed Mithrandir, a string of coincidences which led us to the battleground."  
No one could argue with that. Suddenly, Legolas leapt up with a start. He grasped for his bow and notched an arrow and released it almost instantaneously. A howl came from behind the bush, and a body fell heavily, crushing the bushes. Aragorn jumped up from the rug and reached for his sword, then diving low so that Legolas' arrow would not hit him instead. It all happened so fast that thirty seconds later, nothing was moving. Aragorn stood in his attacking pose, holding his sword. Legolas, with his arrow notched ready on the taunt bow string, nothing stirred.  
"No more." Legolas relaxed after a full minute frozen in action. "But we cannot stay anymore. We have to go. By morning, the Orcs would have noticed that their sentry which came this way did not return, and they will come for us."  
These statements were quite unnecessary, for Aragorn was already packing up his rugs and accessories in silence. Legolas began stuffing their provisions into the backpack. There wasn't very much aside from lembas, and with disgust, he tossed out bits of meat which were left over from their hunt yesterday. The meats were spoiled; they will have to hunt for another prey tomorrow.  
The moon was high in the sky as the two made their way across the woods. Several times, Legolas froze to listen to the rustle of the leaves to make sure that they weren't being followed. By the time the sun was seen on the horizon, they could spot Helm's Deep in the distance, backed by the glowing rising sun.  
"This is the meeting spot?" Aragorn pointed to a large, gnarly tree which stood amidst a clearing, with a small strip of red ribbon tied to a high branch.  
Legolas nodded, and together, the two of them sat down heavily at the root of the tree, completely exhausted. The night's travel wasn't exactly physically tiring, but it was the psychological tension which caused their nerves to be high-strung until now, and a wave of exhaustion washed upon them, as both of them let out a small sigh of relief.  
"Lembas?" Legolas took out some bread and offered some to Aragorn, who shook his head grimly at the offered food.  
"I am sick of lembas." Aragorn told him with a bitter smile. "I wonder now how did Frodo and Sam survive all the way to Mordor with these? I sure hope Gimli brings some good food with him on his way here."  
Legolas didn't know how long they sat under the tree, waiting for Gimli's arrival, but it seemed like eternity. He knew that they had arrived earlier than the appointed time but he didn't know how early. It was after Aragorn had fallen asleep leaning on his left shoulder before Gimli arrived, looking worried and overjoyed at the same time.  
Carefully leaning Aragorn against the tree so he could move, Legolas stood up, stretched, and waited until Gimli stopped right next to him, and then ruffled Gimli's messy hair affectionately. "Where've you been, dwarf? We waited practically forever."  
"I thought you and the human might prefer some.good meat, after all that traveling on just lembas." Gimli said gruffly before he took out some large parcels wrapped in giant tea leaves out of his backpack.  
Delighted, Legolas sorted through the parcels. "Beef, chicken, bread, cheese, rolls and pastry.wow, impressive. Still warm!"  
"The lady at the inn gave me a hard time, I hope these makes up for my late arrival." Gimli went over to Aragorn and examined him closely, then, "He hadn't aged at all! Why, he looked no different from when we last saw him, at the end of the journey of the ring!"  
"You hadn't exactly aged yourself." Legolas pointed out.  
An arrow flew so close to Gimli's head it cuffed off bits of his beard before landing with a thud on the tree. With a shout, Gimli pulled out his axe and with that shout, several Orcs stood up, encircling the surrounding. They were trapped.  
Aragorn had woken up by now, but he was in no position to move. His sword was close by, but as the situation was, one single movement could cause arrows zooming in on them from all sides. It was as if time froze, the Orcs, with their rapiers ready and arrows aimed; Legolas, with his arrow notched, ready to let it fly; Gimli, holding his axe, looking around grimly, and Aragorn, in a sitting posture, leaning against a tree, looking very alarmed. Then, as if on signal, the Orcs all started moving in together, making a tighter circle around the three. They moved in slowly, but making a tighter circle.  
Legolas turn and saw Aragorn gave Gimli a look, which Gimli turned to pass into onto him. He understood immediately. That was one good thing he had learnt on his journey. He, Gimli and Aragorn had grown so accustomed to each other that sometimes all it took was a single signal for them to understand the meaning. It was a mutual understanding which could only be obtained after being together for so long.  
With a split second of indecision, Legolas suddenly leapt up, releasing his arrow at the same time. The Orcs released their arrows at him, but he knew that their arrows were aimed at his chest, so the arrows passed from underneath him harmlessly as he flipped backwards in the air and landed on his feet. While he did his stunt, Aragorn had flipped over and retrieved his sword so by the time Legolas landed onto the ground with a soft thump, he had already killed an Orc and was fending off arrows which another two were firing at him. Gimli was quick with the axe, so Legolas did not worry about him. Dimly, in the background, he could hear Gimli's shout as the axe made a swishing sound and cut deeply into an Orc's right side. He pulled out his short sword and launched at the closest one to him, who was just trying to notch another arrow. The Orc dodged, completely abandoning his bow and arrow, but it was not fast enough. With amazing speed which only an elf could manage, Legolas bent his right arm towards him and then slashing out horizontally at the Orc. The edge of the sword cut right through the left side of the Orc, cut through his chest, and came out the right side. It was as if he was almost cut in half, a top half and a bottom half, separated by the horizontal slash on his chest. There was not scream, there was not enough energy left in the Orc to scream. With a faint gurgle, he fell down to his knees silently. What happened to him was no longer important, for Legolas was already in deep combat with another. This one was smart, it had not abandoned its bow and arrow. As Legolas turned around to deal with him, he released an arrow instantly. Legolas did not react fast enough to block the arrow with his sword, but it did not hit him on his heart, where it was aimed. He had lifted his arm in an instinctive motion and it pierced through his sleeves and embedded itself deeply within is arm.  
"Aa!" Legolas gave a short scream. The pain tore through him like wild fire, sending waves through his body. For a second he was blinded by the pain, his legs wavered and he couldn't tell up from down. Then, dazed, he forced himself to concentrate at the upcoming threat. Knowing that the arrow in his arm could be a very dangerous weapon, he gathered up all his strength and resolution, gritted his teeth and with a loud roar, pulled off the arrow. The Orc was momentarily stunned at his action, which gave him time to recover. As he pulled off the arrow, the pain was unbearable. He fell forwards, unable to control his balance. The Orc thought he was attacking randomly and madly, and fell back, accidentally crashing onto one of his companion, and Gimli cut them both through, taking the element of surprise.  
Then everything went black.  
Eventually, consciousness returned to him, and Legolas slowly came to his senses. His wound did not hurt as much now, but was a dim throb in the background. Consciousness did not return easily. It took all his will for Legolas to force himself to open his eyes, despite of his extreme weariness due to blood loss. He could feel the warmth, which usually meant a fire nearby.  
What had happened? Were we captured? He questioned himself silently. Then, trying not to move his facial muscles too much, he opened his eyes open just barely enough to see the situation. Even though his vision was still blurry, he could be sure that they weren't captured. After making sure of that, Legolas opened his eyes fully to look at his new surroundings. It was a while before his brain started functioning, and his vision cleared, he saw only Aragorn, sitting beside a central fire which he also was also laid beside, looking very grimly into the fire. He didn't seem to notice that Legolas was awake, but continued to look with a dazed expression into the cackling flames, deep in thought.  
"Aragorn." Legolas called softly to Aragorn, as Aragorn turned to look at him with such a somber expression Legolas thought for an instant he had taken him for dead.  
"First piece of good news I've had in days." Aragorn said with a bitter chuckle, looking at Legolas and tossing a piece of wood into the fire. "I thought you were not going to make it, but your spirits prevailed, you came to."  
"Of course." Legolas smiled back. "I cannot go before I finish my mission and deliver you to the rest of the company, can I?"  
"Well someone obviously thought they can." Aragorn said without much expression, as if angry at someone but unable to bring himself to face it.  
Legolas propped himself up on his arms and was on the verge of arguing when he remembered that they had met up with Gimli. Then, the sudden truth hit him. At first, the truth was so cruel that he had refused to acknowledge it, but it swam in the back of his head making sounds like a bee. Now it was a doubt no longer, but it had made it no less painful.  
"Gimli." He said stupidly. His brain wasn't functioning properly, and an image went through his brain again and again, a dwarf, a dwarf a dwarf a dwarf a dwarf.  
Aragorn did not reply, but rather looked away into the woods.  
"Tell me how it happened." Legolas demanded in a murmur, then laid back down. The pain in his arm had returned, causing a jolt through him, forcing him to lie back down, grimacing. Strangely, the mental pain did not make him numb, but worsened the throbbing in his arm, which felt like fire, burning at his arm, all the way up to his shoulders. Something blocked at his throat, but he did not want to cry. Men don't cry. He bit his lips not only to choke back a scream of pain, but also tears which threatened to spill over. Forcing the emotion down, he took a deep gulp and focused his attention on Aragorn.  
It seemed like for a while, Aragorn was doing the same thing. For a few minutes of silence, none of them spoke. Legolas could not tell what Aragorn was feeling since his back was to him, but that slight shake of his shoulders made Legolas think that he was crying. Suddenly, Aragorn burst into laughter. It was as if everything was back to normal again. Shaking with uncontrollable mirth, he turned to Legolas and laughed so hard that he almost doubled over. Legolas watched in confusion, frowning. What had gotten into Aragorn?! Gimli just died and yet he's.  
Another string of deep laughter came from within the bush.  
"Gimli!" Legolas shouted in surprise and relief. Then. "You tricked me! Gimli did not die, he is still alive!"  
Laughing so hard that tears were dripping down, the dwarf walked out from behind the bush, rubbing the back of his hands on his cheeks to wipe away the tears. "Ho ho ho, my elf friend, you are one of the.the most.most gullible creature I've ever.met." His sentence was frequently interrupted by snorts which was the result of him laughing so hard.  
Looking from one to the other, Legolas felt relief flood through him, then laughter came easily. "You two miscreants, you tricked me! I'll get you two for this!" He said, while chuckling lightly himself.  
"With what?" Aragorn teased. "With your pierced arm? Whoa, I am truly scared."  
Gimli fell to his knees laughing, with occasional snorts and coughs in between. Legolas laughed along, feeling considerably better than before. Even the pain in his arm seemed to have lessened to an acceptable amount.  
"So what really did happen?" Legolas asked after Aragorn and Gimli has had their share of amusement. Aragorn was completely calm now, but Gimli still chortled now and then, thinking of the incidence.  
"Well, you were brave. After Gimli cut through the two that had crashed together, there were only three Orcs left and it wasn't very hard to deal with them." Aragorn said easily. Then, he looked a bit more serious. "I'm very worried about your arm, though, it seemed that pulling out the arrow was not a very good idea. The arrow had hit a major artery, the bleeding would not stop until I applied redmoss to stop the blood from flowing so freely. Now the wound seemed better, but you would need serious healing."  
"Yes, and that was why we had switched course to go to Lothlorien." Gimli told him, then, as if having an after thought, he added, "To where lady Galadriel lives."  
"Would the ringbearer and Mithrandir worry if we are late in arriving?"  
"Then we might just have to die and then come back to life, right Gimli?"Aragorn winked at Gimli and the both of them laughed again, Legolas just looked at them and smiled.  
"Not funny." He said, after a considerable pause. "I truly believed that.Gimli had.had."  
"You do know what this meant, don't you?" Aragorn asked, suddenly surly.  
"It means that I shouldn't trust you and Gimli ever again?"  
"No!" Aragorn gave a half amused, half exasperated groan, while Gimli had burst into a new round of laughter. "I mean the attack."  
"It means.the Orcs probably has a good grasp of where we are now." Legolas sighed.  
"And that means?" Gimli asked, recovering from his mirth.  
"That means we have got a long way to go, my friend." Legolas said truthfully, and looked into the distance. 


	2. LOTR fan fiction the second beginning ch...

"Well, we're certainly here early." Merry said lightly as he sipped on the beer, as Frodo, Sam, Pippin and Gandalf sat down around him on a round table. Frodo looked up slightly at his voice, and then directed his attention to the fire, which crackled softly in the fireplace. The Prancing Pony was not usually this busy, but there just seemed to be much more travelers than usual.  
"We're not early, they're late." Pippin chipped in as he started on his plate of cheese and beef. "It is almost fall and they're still not here yet!"  
"True, they promised to be here before night fall, but it is tomorrow's night fall." Merry argued, then emptying his pint in one single swallow. "That's some good stuff." He added after he had gulped down his drink and was wiping his mouth with his sleeves.  
Gandalf seemed to be deep in thought, and Frodo looked more grim than usual. Sam stared at Frodo with a worried expression, the table fell into silence. Seeing that nobody was interested in responding nor carrying on the conversation, Merry satisfied himself with a sigh and looked at his emptied pint. Then the inn owner came over with the rest of their foods, laying them one by one in front of the companion. Seeing that none of them spoke, he seemed to have taken on a personal responsibility to start a conversation.  
"What rare company." He smiled lightly as he looked around the table. "Four hobbits and a wizard.strange company, if I do say so myself."  
"Trust me, it gets even more strange, sir, by tomorrow nightfall." Merry found himself replying. He was about to go on and say who will be here when Gandalf gave him the darkest look from underneath his wizard hat, and Pippin kicked him underneath the table. Gulping back his sentence, he dove into his order of pork ribs and mashed potatoes, and the inn keeper left the table without further attempts to restart the conversation.  
Suddenly, a drift of cold air hit him from the behind. Turning around, he saw several Orcs walking through the doorway. Orcs in the Shire nowadays were not rare, but it was not a common sight either. After the fellowship of the ring, it was assumed that the Orcs were extinct, though they do quite often show up in unexpected places. But little did the regular civilian know, that the Orcs were forming an army of their own, this time, they used the breeding techniques they learnt from Saruman, and were on the way of creating even more powerful monsters than the Uruk-hai. As the Orcs came in, the entire atmosphere in the inn changed. Several glanced around curiously, just to turn back shivering under the Orc's glare.  
But his entire table was watching, though not so apparently. Aside from Merry, Pippin was peering over his pint glass to look at the Orcs. Frodo was watching them through the corners of his eyes. Sam was watching them openly, almost knocking lady Galadriel's glass vial onto the floor, luckily it was tied to Frodo's wrist, and did not smash to pieces on the floor. Gandalf showed no sign of noticing their arrival, but Merry could tell that he was watching them silently from underneath his hat. The shadow of the hat cast over his face and covered his eyes. No one knew what each other was thinking at that moment, but soon everyone had a common thought.  
"Thank the gods that the company wasn't planned to arrive here today." Pippin said significantly to Frodo, who nodded, thinking of Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli. The Orcs hated Legolas and Gimli, partly because they were often associated with Aragorn, and partly because they had killed a lot of Orcs at the battle at Helm's Deep. They were under no obligation to kill them, but will give them a hard time if they ever found them. Aragorn, on the other hand, was different. Every Orc had Aragorn's face memorized into their comparatively small brain. Aragorn equals kill, it was that simple. Whereas Legolas and Gimli would face some rough times, Aragorn would loose his life. Everyone sitting around the table knew, and maybe they were all feeling secretly relieved at that moment.  
But thinking of them caused so many memories. Merry remembered it full well when they had met up underneath Isengard, how Gimli and company had been tracking them for days, to find them safe and sound, and well fed, too. He chuckled at the memory, then immediately returned to the situation at hand. The inn keeper were reluctant on taking orders from the Orcs since they were not likely to pay, but he chose to keep his life and ran into the kitchen with the Orcs' orders. One of the Orcs stood up, and took out a large parchment. At first, it wasn't clear what was on the parchment, but it soon revealed to be a partly accurate hand-depicted picture of Aragorn's face.  
"Hobbits, listen! Humans, listen!" It said in ragged common tongue. Obviously, they had learnt how to speak common tongue, though not very well. "We search, look for this, human we look for!" He jabbed his long- nailed finger into Aragorn's face. "We him need, you see him, you come to me, speak. We give reward." At that point he offered an attempt at smiling, but it was a failure, it sent chills down Merry's back. "We stay in inn, five days, you see him, you come, speak. To me."  
"Five days!" Frodo whispered urgently to Gandalf, who looked just as impassive as ever. "And to think, the company arrives tomorrow."  
"You hobbit! Listen! Important talk, I have!" The Orc had apparently seen Frodo leaning over to Gandalf, and was not pointing at him angrily. "I speak, you listen! Or hobbit pay! You too, pointy-hat!"  
Merry almost laughed out loud at that description of Gandalf, but held back, choking down his laughs, knowing that Gandalf would probably turn him into a frog later if he did laugh. Frodo leaned back in his seat, and looked away from the Orc with a sour expression. The Orc gave another grunt and continued.  
"We reward have! You come, speak of this man." Then, he turned grim. "If human lie, if hobbit lie, we punish!"  
Then, randomly, the Orcs pushed away from the table, and grasped people by their collars, and questioned at random. The Orcs were so tall that most people questioned were lifted off their feet. Merry ran his eyes over this scene of confusion, and looked quickly around for a way to go upstairs into their rooms.  
The movement of his eyes must have caught the Orcs' eyes, for one of them walked directly over while he was still looking around and picked him up by the collar. Only a bit scared but mainly defiant, Merry stared into the Orc's eyes without flinching. The Orc did not seem to like this, he shook Merry roughly.  
"You see man! You see that man? You seen him? You speak! You seen him or not?" His breath stank very badly, and Merry felt a wave of nausea travel up his throat. He had never been this close to an Orc's mouth before, never mind smelling its breath.  
"No." He managed to keep a straight face while trying not to overreact. "No, never."  
The Orc gave him a searching glare, and he returned the glare with determination. Finally, after what seemed like eternity to Merry, the Orc let go of his collar with a rough push. He landed bottom-first onto the table, spilling Sam's beer and almost pushing his own dinner over the side of the table.  
"You lie, you die." The Orc left these final words before moving onto the next person.  
Usually, it was in the best interest of the King's knights to kill Orcs. But after the fellowship, the Orcs developed human speech, which was a rarity. There were just too many of them for humans to deal with, and the elves had withdrawn their forces. So in major gathering places like Gondor, Orcs were killed upon sighting, and that was why they mostly live in small towns, terrorizing its inhabitants. The King's powers did extend far, but there was not enough troops to break off a legion to protect every single small village. Nobody blamed it on Aragorn, though, Gondor and Rohan became rich, strong and prosperous under his rule. He was a good king, at least better than the ones before him. Aside from that, Lady Arwen's beauty and wisdom attracted much loyalty amongst the people of middle earth. Together, Arwen and Aragorn had a dream for middle earth, and it would have come true too, if the Orcs were not there.  
"Did you hear that?!" Pippin was desperately tugging on Merry's sleeves. Merry was too deep within his own thoughts that he was jolted back to reality by Pippin's urgent voice. Then, he discovered that the tavern had erupted into urgent discussion, and the Orcs were now drinking and eating, tossing occasional glances to others' tables.  
"What happened?" He asked, looking around at his friends' horrified faces. Gandalf looked so tired and old for a moment, under the flickering fire light.  
"They.or at least they claimed.that." Sam gave a gulp of air before continuing, rushing through the rest of his sentence. "They claimed that they are building up again! Their forces!"  
Merry almost fell of his chair. "And to think, Aragorn had left the castle, leaving lady Arwen alone in charge! Did they say how soon?"  
"Say Strider! Walls may have ears, you never know." Pippin hissed at him, then, "No.I suppose it will take another month, at least. But it just meant that their powers are growing, and it puts us deeper in danger."  
"Not us." Frodo corrected him, with Sam nodding fervently by his side. "Only Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli, and maybe Gandalf too. We, us four, did not do much killing of the Orcs, so they do not know our faces. As for Gandalf, they know of him as Gandalf the white, but Gandalf is well disguised now, under his cloak of silvery gray."  
"Back to the old Gandalf the gray!" Pippin joked. In a normal situation, everyone would have laughed, even Gandalf. But the atmosphere right at that moment was making everyone uptight, so even Merry could only manage a small, nervous laugh.  
Suddenly, one of the Orcs pointed excitedly at their table, speaking in rough, hurried Black speech. The rest of them turned their heads all together, and it didn't take long for the company to realize that the attention of the Orcs were focused on Gandalf, who seemed to reach a decision and stood up quickly, ushering the hobbits to stand up too, and leave.  
"You, bad wizard, you kill Orcs in front gate Mordor!" The Orc shouted. Angrily, the other Orcs stirred, and grasped their weapons rightly. "You! You stay, you come, your companions come!"  
"Run!" Gandalf issued, as he raised his staff high. The room was suddenly filled to the brim with light. Screams issued from every corner of the tavern, only the four hobbits knew enough of Gandalf's magic to know to keep their eyes shut. The brilliant light temporarily blinded everyone's sight. As the light went out, the Orcs had already overturned their table and was now hacking and slashing in random in the companions' direction.  
"Run!" Gandalf hissed at them. "This will only blind them temporarily, we must leave!"  
The rest of the hobbits ran towards the door, dodging low to prevent their heads from being hacked off by the Orcs whom were now screaming in rage and stumbling everywhere, over tables, out of windows. With a sharp scream, one women who was sitting by the window fell over and crashed the glass. An Orc had accidentally slashed into her, its axe lodging deeply into her ribcage. The sight was too gruesome, and it made Merry thought better of just running out.  
"Pippin!" He shouted to Pippin, who was loading provision, dumping everyone's dinner into a huge sack in the confusion. "We are knights of Gondor! We must fight!"  
Tossing the huge bag of food to Sam, Pippin nodded smartly and pulled out his short sword. Together, they made for the closest Orc. The Orc had heard their footsteps approaching, and swung his huge sword around in an arc. Pippin leapt up high in the air while Merry ducked, the sword flew harmlessly between them two. Not giving the Orc time to do another turn, Merry flew for its feet, slashing into the Orc's knees. With a scream, the Orc tumbled towards him in a fluid motion. The axe fell from its hands and landed face-first heavily onto Merry's left foot.  
Cursing heavily, Merry ignored the pain in his left foot and clubbed the Orc on the head with the flat face of his sword, and as if that was not enough, Pippin's sword flew right through its throat, severing its head right off, which landed onto an old man's dinner plate, splattering blood everywhere.  
Some of the Orcs' vision were returning, and they looked around for a sight of the hobbits. "Enjoy your dinner!" Merry shouted mirthfully at the old man whom looked flabbergasted at having an Orc's head for dinner before launching himself onto another one. With a loud shout he ran this one through the middle. It did not die fast enough, and swung its rapier weakly to Merry's head, successful only in cutting off a few streaks of Merry's curly hair. Beside him, Pippin was finishing off another, though he had received a slash on his cheeks. It was not bleeding badly, but it would probably leave a scar.  
They did not notice until later on that Sam had already joined the battle, leaving Gandalf to protect Frodo with his magic. Sam was so skilled in bashing by now he was using metal plates as boomerangs, though he certainly did not expect them to make an arc and come back to him. Many civilians were hiding under their tables, not wanting to be harmed by Orcs, nor Sam's flying plates. Some of them were cheering, others helping only slightly by tripping over Orcs from underneath their tables.  
Merry fought left and right with his sword, and finished off three Orcs before noticing that there was only one left, and it had cornered Pippin. Pippin's short sword lay on the ground a few meters away, and the Orc was advancing onto him menacingly, smashing chairs with his club. Hurriedly, Merry fitted a small stone and a large piece of broken glass onto the slingshot which he hid in his back pocket. He aimed and fired the stone only seconds before he fired the glass.  
As the Orc swung his club and was ready to smash Pippin, the stone hit him in the back of his head. Confused and angry, he turned around, only to get a large piece of glass straight through one eye, and into the brain. Women screamed and men cheered as the Orc gave a short scream before falling first down to his knees, then, with a thump, to the floor.  
"In case your brain was empty, I've just put something into it, so think about it." Merry said lightly, as Pippin came over to pick up his sword, smiling broadly at him.  
"The glass is transparent." He said, looking sorrowful. "You should have put something more solid into him. With the glass, his thoughts will go right through it."  
"When you two crow mouths have finished chatting, may I remind you that we will be sought after by the Orcs after this incident and that it is best we leave right now?" Gandalf's voice interrupted their conversation.  
"Yes, Gandalf." They said reluctantly. They were already on their way out when they were stopped by the inn keeper, whose arms were laden with foods, dried meats, fresh vegetables and other durable items.  
"Keep these, young knights! You two bore the mark of a knight of Gondor." He said proudly, offering the whole load into Pippin, Merry, and Sam's arms. "If the Orcs are truly building up their forces like they said, us civilians cannot do a thing, but it is up to brave knights like you to fight them! You have done a great deed for us indeed, ridding the inn of Orcs like that, and accept these as my token of gratitude!"  
"Why thank you kind sir!" Merry offered his brightest smile, while stomping onto Pippin's foot, because Pippin had already started on the armload of food, starting with the carrots. Sam just looked at the inn keeper with a bland smile on his face, his mind probably off elsewhere.  
"Reinforcements!" Came Frodo's desperate voice from the doorway.  
Still thanking the inn keeper, Merry and Pippin rushed to the door amidst the claps and cheers of the people in the tavern. The only man who wasn't happy was the old man who has gotten an Orc's head in his dinner plate. With sigh and a fearful, disgusted look, he pushed the plate sideways so it splattered over the floor, and signaled the inn keeper for another order.  
The had started raining outside, the world seemed to be covered in a gray mist. Hastily stuffing the new provisions so that they do not get wet, Merry untied his horse from the wooden peg and led it to follow the others, whom were already seated and ready on their horses.  
"Where do we go?" Pippin asked, already thoroughly soaked. The rain had almost straightened his curls, which hung down by the sides of his face, with water dripping from them.  
"Rivendell! To the woods of Elrond!" Came Gandalf's reply through the noises of the storm. Gandalf's figure had already half-disappeared through the rain, Merry reined his horse in the direction of the voice. Then he heard it, almost a hundred Orcs on horses, approaching the inn at top speed. The ground almost shook underneath all the hooves, as Sam took one last worried look backwards.  
"What's wrong, Sam?" Frodo asked as he rode past him.  
"Well." Sam replied, half embarrassed. "I.um.it's Rose, Mister Frodo. I told her to meet me here tomorrow night.and now."  
"But you can't stay, Sam! She'll be able to take care of herself!" Frodo shouted as he started to ride away.  
"Let's hope so." Sam sighed, and rode on after Frodo's disappearing figure. 


	3. ch 3 the entering into Lothlorien

"How is your wound doing?" Gimli asked gruffly as he rode on, with Legolas sitting behind him, holding onto him with his one good arm. This was actually the first time when he rode in front of Legolas instead of Legolas being up front, with him holding onto Legolas' waist, and it gave him a slight sense of pride, which was immediately washed away with Legolas' answer.  
"Not so good, drawf." He said with a grimace. "I think there were some kind of poison or herb on that arrow.I'm loosing consciousness again."  
  
"Or due to blood loss." Aragorn observed grimly, looking at the blood- stained bandage which was wrapped around Legolas' arm. "That was the third time I had to re-bandage you because the bleeding was too much. We would have to hurry, Lothlorien is only a few miles away."  
"I can see the woods already." Trying to be optimistic, Legolas looked afar and could barely see the border, between the endless grassland which they rode on now and the forest woods of Lothlorien. It would be more than a few miles, it would not be long, but the road is not short either. He dearly hoped that whatever was on the arrow was not poison. The pain had subdued now, but he was gradually loosing conscious. Sometimes he would sway uncontrollably on the horse, and Gimli would stop for a short while for him to adjust, but it had slowed down the journey by a considerable amount. Then.  
"Something.masses of Orcs! They are riding out of Lothlorien!" Legolas shouted, the shock and surprise mingled in his voice. "Orcs! Why.how. they were in Lothlorien!"  
"This way!" A sudden voice came from behind them. Legolas instinctively reached for his bow but almost fell off the horse as the jolting pain in his arm ran through his body, making him pause and almost groan. The bleeding had started again, though not as bad as before, as many new patches of red appeared on the bandage. Aragorn had already pulled out his bow and arrow and was turning his horse around, and Gimli already had his axe out, with a menacing look on his face which was mixed with concern for Legolas.  
But it was not an Orc, nor an enemy. Legolas recognized that person in an instant. It was an elf, a former inhabitant of Lothlorien.  
"What happened?" Aragorn asked as he reeled his horse around and ran to the elf. Gimli did the same, but because of his concern for Legolas he rode on slowly, and the elf did not reply until they were all gathered around him and all four of them made their way at a small trot down the hill, into a patch of woods in the South side.  
"Elves out of Lothlorien while Orcs are in it? What happened?!" Legolas questioned urgently as they made it to the covers of the woods.  
The elf did not reply at first, then he lowered his head as if in shame, and said in a low whisper: "The Orcs.they have begotten powerful magic, and they.they.have taken over Lothlorien."  
This drew a few considerably loud gasps from all around as the three companions each had a different reaction to this.  
"Bloody worms!" Gimli fingered his axe and cursed angrily. Aragorn seemed to be deep in thought, his eyebrows deep in a frown. Legolas did not know what he was feeling at the moment, he was feeling weaker and weaker by the moment, and as to the fact that his brain had stopped functioning again due to the loss of blood, he was in a stage of numbness, a part of it was due to the shock of finding such news.  
"Then is lady Galadriel." Gimli inquired hastily. He did not finishing his sentence, but the elf understood.  
"Lady Galadriel and Lord Celeborn are in good condition, though there were quite a bit of massacre in the beginning. We've lost.quite a few men."  
  
Everybody sank into silence. To the elves, this was a disgrace, one of the biggest failures in history. When the strength of men first failed, the elves were at least keeping up their part, but now, even the elves, who possessed their own type of magic, were defeated, Legolas could see less hope for mankind. Aragorn was deeply troubled for this situation. Then.  
"Oh no, they are not.we have heard information about the Orcs breeding new breeds in a secret place, it's not."  
The elf did not speak, which was an answer within itself.  
"Oh the purity and beauty of the holy Lothlorien, the nurturing place of the beauty of evening and morning, tainted!" Legolas moaned. His sentence struck deep within Gimli and Aragorn's hearts, for they understand who evening and morning stood for. Aragorn thought of Arwen, the evenstar of her people, all alone, taking care of men's business in his place, and a wave of guilt washed over him. Gimli thought of Lady Galadriel, with the morning star shining in her eyes, exiled out of Lothlorien, and hot rage rose up inside him, as he fingered his axe involuntarily.  
"We need to see a healer." Aragorn said in a commanding voice to the elf. "Our companion here needs to have his wounds treated, he cannot last long with that wound."  
"We are almost there." The elf pointed ahead.  
Surprisingly, they could already see other elves in the distance, underneath the trees.  
"So where do your kind take shelter now?" Gimli asked testily, looking around and shivered at the coldness in these dark woods where the sunlight cannot penetrate.  
"In the opening, as you see now." The elf said in a murmur.  
"It is cold!" Gimli said, shocked. "And what if it rains?"  
"We have our magic, dwarf." The elf pointed to the large clearing. "Our magic created a natural boundary, and within the boundary, there is very much warmth, and the foliage moved to form a perfect ceiling."  
Contend with the answer, the company proceeded until they went amidst the clearing. Then, they were ordered to stop and dismount, while the elves led their horses away.  
Very soon, Lady Galadriel and Lord Celeborn came walking out of the woods, looking as glorious as ever, but both had a hint of tiredness on their face, which did not look like good news to Legolas at all. What was more surprising, is that on both of their faces, there were scars. Gimli gave a small gasp, and Aragorn's sorrow showed through his expression. Lady Galadriel had a diagonal slash on her left cheek, and Celeborn had many more cuts, even a half-healed bruise.  
"Welcome, friends." Lady Galadriel said, in her melodious voice. Gimli bowed, and Legolas and Aragorn followed, looking sideways at Gimli's expression, and both trying to keep their mirth in check. "Legolas, you will find fit to follow this elf here, she will take you to be healed. Aragorn, noble lord of men."  
At this point, Aragorn could not help but to mutter "Lord no more, my lady." As Gimli gave him a hard glare. But Galadriel did not seem angry, on the contrary, she seemed to be warmer than before. "The noble king's blood runs through you, and one day you will make the middle earth prosper. And now, you will be shown to your sleeping place, and will be notified when supper will be served."  
As she turned to Gimli, Gimli straightened up involuntarily, and pulled at his beard. Aragorn watched in silent amusement. "Now, master dwarf, you shall also be shown to your sleeping place. Please rest well, for your companion have a long way to go."  
"Do you foresee our road, my lady?" Aragorn asked, respectfully. "perhaps. hardship. toiling. or even death?"  
"That I cannot say." Galadriel turned to him with a worried expression, and Celeborn took over for her.  
"You have endured much, noble king. But what you shall face will be something new, but what it is I cannot tell. It may be joyous, sad, it may lead you to destruction, or to glorious destiny which was supposedly yours. But there can be no victory without sacrifice, and we shall all hope to meet again in safety, blessed be you and us all."  
There was a change in the trees, as the soft wind blew, it carefully pushed apart some of the leaves, as rays of sun shone through the foliage. Lady Galadriel and Lord Celeborn were, once again, glorious beyond words, standing there peacefully, basked in golden sunlight. The loss of Lothlorien seemed to not have happened, as they looked down upon the three companion, smiling benignly.  
"Oh beauty." Aragorn heard Gimli mutter under his breath, and he was sure that Legolas had heard too, for he was also smiling, looking up to lady Galadriel and Lord Celeborn with the utmost respect, but at that moment, what they do not realize is that they seem to shine the same way to Galadriel and Celeborn. In Galadriel and Celeborn's eyes, there were three magnificent men, two still in their youth. Legolas, with his blue eyes under his beautiful long eyelashes, his silvery gold hair glittering underneath the sun; Aragorn, with wisdom and strength showing though his grey eyes, noble and proud even in his kneeling position; Gimli, proud and fierce, with intense vigor which radiated off him. The two groups stood there, entranced with each other for a few moments, before Lady Galadriel turned around and left, holding Celeborn's hand.  
"Legolas Greenleaf, please come with me. I am to take you to be healed." An elf said timidly, breaking the trance. With a sigh which sounded like an awakening from a dream, Legolas wearily followed the elf deeper into the woods, reluctant to leave Aragorn and Gimli behind. As they walked deeper into the woods, the lighting lessened, and they approached a small opening with several beds.  
"Please lie down." The elf told him, while taking some medicine out of a cabinet which was carved into a tree trunk, an amethyst necklace glittering on her neck. "And take off your cloak, and change into this." She indicated to a warm sleeveless gown.  
As he changed and she was checking on the medicine, Legolas' curiosity burst out. "How did this happen?"  
"Well." The elf considered it for a while, and began her tale. "I am not exactly the best person to ask for this, for I was asleep when the main invasion happened. When I was awakened by the noises outside, the main shelter of Lothlorien was already ablaze. Quite horrified, as you could imagine, I made it for the exit in my sleeping gowns, in time to see the massacre. I have no idea how they got past the magic of Lothlorien's borders and came in without anyone noticing them, but they have their own powerful brand of magic. As we found out later when we were running out of Lothlorien." there was a small pause, as she took a deep breath. "We found all our sentries dead, with no wound, which was a curious thing indeed. There was a massacre. Many were slain in their beds, unable to grasp for their weapon. They were ruthless. Male, female, children, they laid their butcher knives on anyone they could find. Lord Celeborn saved my life. An Orc came straight for me, apparently drunk and had his sword raised, and I was cornered against a tree. I was sure that I was going to die then. Lord Celeborn ran him through the moment his sword was about to come down. I was shocked and could not move, so he carried me out of the blazing woods and set me down with the a load of children. 'Take care of them!' he said, before running back into the woods with his sword. In the end, we all evacuated the place, and came to this piece of woods, next to Lothlorien. We are too much and too weary to move further, and we are safe here. The Orcs, so far, had shown no intention of moving into these woods."  
Legolas had finished changing now, as she came over to apply redmoss and some herbal medicine to his wound. It was a very bad sight, as Legolas unwrapped his bandages and looked involuntarily at his wound, and shivered. The flesh had rotted a bit around the wound, but the bleeding had almost came to a stop.  
"You let this wound carry on for too long!" The elf exclaimed, as she immediately went and fetched a small bottle of some bluish water. "This may sting, so please bear with me."  
With jerky motions, she poured the liquid over the wound. Legolas had to bite his lips to prevent himself from crying out. The liquid did stung. It felt like thousands of needles piercing into his skin. Seeing this, the nurse took a small pillow and handed it to him.  
"This may sting like this and worsen, for at least another hour. Bite on this, because if you bite down too hard on your lips, it is bad for you. But when the pain is finished, your wound will be healed, this is the quickest way."  
Not caring about dignity anymore, Legolas accepted the pillow and stuffed it into his mouth, and bit down hard. He was fighting hard to keep back tears now, the stinging seemed to sink into his very bones, and he felt nauseated due to the pain.  
The nurse had seen this before, and knew how to react. "Please lie down, Legolas Greenleaf, and try to relax. I will leave you here now, and I will be back. The next few minutes will be the most painful minutes, then the pain will eventually subdue. I will be back with your dinner." And with that she walked out, leaving Legolas alone in the quiet clearing.  
Quite relieved that she had gone, Legolas saw no more need to hold back, and let his tears stream out. As to the fact that he found the pillow was not helping, he spat it out and just gritted his teeth, and groaned. He felt as if he could barely move. The pain was so intense it stabbed at him with the ferociousness of hundreds of swords, leaving him to endure it in silence. He bit his lips so hard that soon blood was streaming down the side of his cheeks onto the bed. But he knew the moment the nurse left that there was some special herb in the medicine which would help him loose consciousness until the pain had died down a bit, so he tossed around on the bed, waiting for blackness to come over him.  
It was slow in coming, but it came at full force. One moment, Legolas was well aware of his pain. He felt drowsiness overcome him and the next time he opened his eyes, the pain was only a dull throbbing, which was only limited to his left arm.  
It came to him as a bit of a surprise, but he found himself on the soft bed no longer, but on the mossy bank of a river, holding the nurse's amethyst necklace, inside a cave with an entrance covered by pine branches which provides the perfect camouflage for an autumn forest. He tried to move his arm but found only slightly mobile, he could move it only with difficulty, but the rest of him seemed to be in good condition. There were some food left beside him, which had apparently gone cold because they had been left there for quite a long time. But as he saw the cold bread and cheese and pears, his stomach growled, reminding him how long he had slept without food, and he gratefully gulped down the food without complain. The moment he heard the sound of running water outside, his throat screamed suddenly for water, and he was about to walk out of the cave to take a drink when he heard some distinct Black speech.  
The first thought which came to him was Orcs are here! But then he thought about how impossible it was, and yet these voices were so undoubtedly guttural and it was Orcs alright. Silently, Legolas shrank to the back of the cave, listening to any sounds made by the Orcs. Legolas himself could understand a bit of Black speech, as he listened intently to the conversation through the only few words he could understand. He only caught a few words, like "Elves", "attack", "win", "stupid" and "we killed", but it was enough for him to gather what had just happened. Distinctly he heard lady Galadriel and lord Celeborn's names mentioned. These Orcs were apparently of the newest breed, since they did not have Aragorn's face imprinted into their minds, but went past Aragorn's name as a simple human with gray eyes. Gimli was with him, by the sound of it. By the end Legolas had gathered that Gimli, Aragorn, Galadriel, Celeborn and a group of other elves were taken prisoner and locked deep within the jails of Lothlorien, while all others were killed.  
Suddenly, cold sweat trickled down his forehead as he came to the realization of what happened. Shock had numbed him and nailed him to the spot. Though he was completely healed, he was still a bit weak and his left arm still cannot move. The Orcs' voices moved closer and closer, to the entrance, until the leaves crunching underneath their feet became distinct sounds. Legolas' heart almost leapt to his throat as he listened intently, with his good right arm on his short sword, his posture crouching, ready to leap if he had to attack. He was so high strung that he could almost hear his own heart beating, as his breath became soft and ragged. He knew that the chances of him winning against the Orcs were very little, since his left arm is virtually useless.  
But nothing happened. The shadows of the Orcs passed by the pine leaves, one of them gave a loud hiccough, and said that he was so full from the meal. With a wave of nausea, Legolas recalled that the Orcs were cannibals which ate their victims' dead bodies without mercy, sometimes they even fought amongst themselves and ate members of their team. With that sudden urge to throw up, Legolas pressed a hand to his mouth and waited until they were well out of hearing range before rushing out of the cave to retch into the river. He immediately regretted it because now his stomach growled, he had just retched all that he ate, and he is wounded, desperately hungry, and alone in an enemy-filled place, hiding away in a small, dimly lit cave.  
With a heavy sigh, Legolas washed himself in the river and shook his head to clear it up. No Orcs were in hearing range and as far as he could see, there was no one. He took this opportunity to go into the woods and hopefully collect some wild fruits so he could eat his fill. And as he went, he tied on the amethyst necklace around his own neck. 


	4. ch 4 Rivendell, a return and four depart...

"I am very sure that master Elrond will not be so happy to see us again." Pippin said half jokingly, as his horse gave a whinny. "Just like last time, we brought Orcs on our trail."  
"Better than last time." Merry gave him a sideway glance. "We had black riders last time."  
"Good point. But this time, the Orcs were just as bad, if not worse, than the black riders."  
"Will you two give it a rest?!" Sam whispered menacingly in their direction, pointing at Frodo, who was lying underneath the shade of an oak tree. "Master Frodo here is trying to sleep!"  
"Oh quit worrying over him, you are not his mother." Pippin tossed Sam an apple. Sam glared at him, but dug into the apple all the same. Then, the sound of galloping hooves came.  
"Oh, I suppose that means no lunch for us." Merry said grumpily, and collected up the provision, as Gandalf, riding on Shadowfax, came out of the woods, hurrying towards them.  
"They are catching up!" Gandalf shouted as soon as he was within the hearing range of the four hobbits. "Get onto your horses! We leave . now!"  
"But Gandalf, you must be quiet and give it a rest!" Merry mocked amusedly at him. "Mister Frodo here is trying to sleep!" Then, he gave a cry "Ow!" as a half-eaten apple hit him from the back of his head. "Samwise Gamgee! That really hurts!"  
"Well you deserved it." Merry could hear Sam mutter under his breath as he helped Frodo (who was half-asleep) onto the horse. With a sleepy "Thanks." Frodo turned his horse around and followed after Gandalf who was already riding in the direction of Rivendell.  
Giving a hard kick to his horse, Merry rode on at top speed after Frodo, Sam and Gandalf, followed closely by Pippin, who was chewing on a pear, and swaying dangerously on the horse because he was now holding onto the rein with only one hand. Orcs loomed out suddenly from the left, forcing the whole company to make a sharp right turn. Pippin turned his horse, almost fell off, learnt his lesson, and gave up on the pear, tossing it with all his strength at one of the Orcs. It hit the closest one square in the face, and some of the juice probably got into its eyes, because with a sharp scream, it reared its horse off course in a haphazard fashion, and fell off almost immediately. Seeing this, Sam regretfully noted that he wish he could have saved his apple for this cause.  
Even though the situation was rough, Frodo managed to give a laugh. "You know ." he said. "Traveling is never boring with the three of you together, with." He did not get to finish his sentence. A rapier flew so dangerously close to his eyes that he thought for a moment they had. Closing his eyes and screaming, Frodo lifted his left hand to rub on his eyes, but his left hand is unfortunately hooked onto the rein, so his horse reared up and made a sharp left turn, which blocked an Orc directly in its path. With not enough time to react, the Orc pulled in sharply, too sharply for the horse to take. The horse whinnied loudly and fell sideways, and a cry immediately issued from the Orc's mouth. His leg was crushed under the weight of the horse. "Hey.I'm not blind!" Frodo shouted, amazed, as he opened his eyes, but by this time, several Orcs which had managed very fast horses had caught up with him and encircled him, their swords raised.  
"Gandalf!" Merry heard Sam cried, looking back at Frodo. "Master Frodo is trapped! Use your blinding spell again!"  
"Close your eyes, Frodo!" Gandalf cried as he raised his staff, and Merry closed his tightly, and even through his closed eyes he could feel an amazing flash of light, while he reeled his horse around and galloped blindly at the direction of the Orcs. When he opened his eyes, the Orcs were all closing in on Frodo. They did not have to see him to kill him, they had him circled.  
With amazing speed, Merry reached the circle, picked a spot between two Orcs, and knocked them off the horse. "This way Frodo!"  
Frodo led his horse between the two horses with no riders. One of the next Orcs jabbed his swords blindly in this direction, hoping to catch Frodo in the chest. Merry went up and knocked the sword straight off its hand. After all, sight is an amazing advantage, especially when your opponent is blind. Frodo broke through the ring, spurring his horse on as fast as possible, as they hurtled towards the rest of the company. The rest of the Orcs turned in the direction of the sound of their hooves, and randomly chased after them, banging into each other occasionally in their haste. Some of them were going in completely wrong directions.  
"Ah I sure am glad that they don't have as accurate hearing as the elves." Pippin sighed as they made it out of eye sight of the Orcs, and they could already hear the running water of the river that surrounds Rivendell. "I heard that the elves are so accurate with their bow and arrow, and their hearing is so acute, that they could aim and claim their targets in the darkness."  
"Do you think Legolas can?" Frodo asked unnecessarily.  
"He can." Merry confirmed. "He has better hearing than normal elves."  
And the river was in sight. The seemingly shallow river had more traps and depth than anyone could see. Gandalf led them to the crossing. The Orcs were not far behind, the sounds of their hooves could be heard dimly under the sounds of the rushing waters.  
"What can the elves do to prevent the Orcs from crossing the river?" Merry asked, worried. "Last time lady Arwen was here, but this time. and we heard that the Orcs, the new breed, had obtained their own magic."  
"Only few selected Orcs of the new breed were given magic, the rest of them were just normal. Seeing the fact that we were not attacked with magic on our way here, I would say that they do not possess magic." Gandalf shaded his eyes from the sunlight and looked in the direction of the Orcs. "And if my magic does not fail me, some of the elves should be here to help us any moment now."  
As he finished his sentence, two parties appeared almost simultaneously. The first one were the party of Orcs on the opposing shore, and almost immediately afterwards, a party of elves behind the company. These elves made no sound in their arrival, to Merry, it was as if they had just melted out of the trees.  
"Cross the river if you dare, half-breeds!" One of the elves shouted. With a grunt as a reply, the Orcs gave a guttural shout and rode into the river altogether.  
"Not a very good idea." Merry muttered under his breath, as he heard the elves start to chant. As their chanting grew louder, the earth began to shake. The Orcs stopped dead in their tracks in the middle of the river, and looked both sides, confused. Another stupid decision. Merry thought. Then, the water appeared, a tidal wave of white foam and mountain water, rushing towards the Orcs so fast they did not have time to react.  
"I would have expected something new out of these elves ." Pippin whispered to Merry as they watched the Orcs being swept away with the flood of water. "Nothing too impressive, obviously, we have seen this before."  
"We have, but they have not." Merry whispered back, quite entertained. "Next time, when they probably will not fall for the same trick again, the elves will develop something new."  
"Mithrandir." The elves said respectfully to Gandalf, and gave a small bow. Then, to Frodo and Sam, "Ring bearers." and a nod. Turning to Merry and Pippin, they also gave a nod and said "Knight of Gondor, Rider of Rohan."  
Merry proudly lifted his head and gave a nod back while Pippin gloated and basked in pride at the acknowledgement.  
"Please follow us and come this way." The elves gestured towards the woods. He tossed an involuntary look at Frodo's hand, which was missing a finger. Merry noted the look, and it brought so much memories. A wave of sadness washed over him as he remembered the glorious king whom died in the battle, then he remembered Lady Eowyn, beautiful and proud, and smiled.  
"Why, you are certainly expressive today." Pippin pointed out as they walked in deeper into the woods. "First, you had an alert expression, and then it turned to a sorrowful one, then immediately to a smile."  
If you could only follow my thoughts. Merry thought, looking at his best companion with a sense of deep attachment. They had spent most of their life together, saw the Ents together, slaughtered Orcs together, and conquered Isengard together. The trust between them two were unbreakable now, as is the friendship. "I am being driven crazy with concern for our.other companions. Imagine, turning up at the Prancing Pony but meeting up with Orcs."  
"Well, knight, no need to worry." The elf in the lead replied, and Merry was surprised that he had overheard their conversation. "Last night a messenger arrived from Lothlorien. they are under the care of Lady Galadriel and Lord Celeborn, blessed be their name."  
"I have heard . strange rumors regarding Lothlorien." Gandalf muttered testily, tossing a sideway glance at the leading elf, who slowed down his pace, and returned Gandalf's look with an inspecting look.  
"How come you never told us of the rumor?" Pippin asked quickly, looking up indignantly. Frodo was looking at Gandalf with a worried expression and Sam momentarily glared at Pippin before returning his gaze back onto Gandalf. Merry was also very curious but held back his tongue, since Pippin did the asking for him. Then . "And what were the rumors?"  
"Tooks are the nosiest hobbits all around Shire." Gandalf said half to himself with a deep chuckle, and then proceeded to the problem. "I have heard . that Lothlorien was . overtaken, by Orcs."  
Merry gasped, and so did the rest of the company but Pippin, who did not take it seriously at all, since it was just "rumors". But the head elf froze on the spot, and the elf behind him almost crashed right into him if not for the fact that he also froze at Gandalf's words.  
"And what do you know of the situation, Mithrandir?" The elf asked quietly, turning around to face him.  
Gandalf's face darkened. "So the rumors are true."  
Pippin's smile slid right off his face as it was replaced by an open mouth. "No! It cannot be! Lothlorien is full of your kind, it cannot . it ."  
Nobody manage to hide their surprise this time. Gandalf bit his lips and looked at the elf, as if he could be lying. Frodo's head drooped as he looked down at his feet, thinking. Sam's jaws dropped to a most unattractive position, he did not even notice. Merry himself was quite surprised, he certainly did not expect something of this sort to happen. It was as possible as seeing a dragon in the sky, because for all they know, dragons did not exist. Pippin had stopped considering it as "just rumors" now, as he fingered his sword lightly and tipped his head sideways deep in thought.  
"What proof do you have of this?" Frodo suddenly spoke up, surprising everyone. "You have said that Strider and company is under the care of Lady Galadriel and Lord Celeborn, but are they in Lothlorien?"  
"No, they are currently positioned in woods next to Lothlorien. The population of Lothlorien makes it hard for them to mobilize too far." The elf replied, looking directly into Frodo's eyes, as if he could see something there. "We have sent our people there as messengers, to check on the situation. They left yesterday at twilight, they should be returning tomorrow morning."  
"Is a war coming?" Sam asked. Everyone looked up at his unexpected question, as well as shocked by his sharp observation.  
"No. Yes. Who can tell?" One of the elves gave a slight shrug. "As far as we know, there is still at least a period of peaceful times ahead. Darkness roams but it had not yet came to our doorsteps."  
"How did the Orcs manage to take over Lothlorien? How did they even get through the border?" Merry asked, suddenly suspicious.  
"The Orcs have developed a strong magic of their own." The leading elf replied, sounding tired and worn at the same time. "Afterwards it was found out that they had managed to slaughter all the sentries on the edge of the forest and somehow got past the notice of Lady Galadriel and Lord Celeborn."  
"This is worse than the time of the journey of the ring!" Pippin said to no one in particular. Nobody responded, but Merry was sure that they were all agreeing silently. They walked in silence afterwards, no one spoke a word, but Merry had the impression that they were all thinking of the same thing. Deep in thought, the company trudged through the sun lit forest, which seemed strangely noisy, with the chirping of the birds and the wind rustling the leaves.  
"Welcome to Rivendell." The leading elf suddenly said as they came upon the front gate of the elves' dwelling.  
Elrond was rushing out of Rivendell to greet them. He looked no older than the last time they saw him, his grace did not change a bit.  
"Welcome, my friends." He said as the entire company came into his view. "I see that you have already heard of the grim news. But your arrival is a joyous event. Amidst the grieving let us celebrate your arrival, and then discuss the future plans."  
"Still has his way with words, I see." Merry said off the side of his mouth to Pippin, who nodded solemnly, trying to hide his amusement.  
Frodo looked around Rivendell, remembering old times. Elrond was going to leave for the West with his people, but the recent situations made them stay in middle earth. After Arwen's marriage, they were on the verge of leaving until Aragorn was chased out of his throne. Then, it became serious. In the light of the emergency, Elrond and his people stayed despite their will to go and watched every situation with an alert eye.  
Suddenly, an elf came running out of the woods towards the company. The head elf looked up, apparently alarmed, to say the least.  
"Grave news, my friends!" The elf said as he came to a sudden stop in front of the company. For a second, an image of Aragorn captured, of Legolas and Gimli dead, appeared in Merry's head, but he pushed it away, knowing that it could not be that bad.  
"The father of Legolas, Thranduil, was murdered!" He said in a rush, as the woods fell quiet around him.  
Gasps rose from not only the companions but the elves, also. A low murmur rose from the company.  
"Does Legolas know of this news?" Pippin asked above the loud buzzing.  
"Not yet, my friend, but we will send messengers to Lothlorien to inform him of this . sad news." The elf replied, with a gesture for them to keep walking deeper into the woods. "I would be surprised if he did not find out by the time our messenger gets there.  
"How will poor mister Legolas react to this?" Sam muttered to himself, while Frodo simply looked like he was brooding in his own gloom. Merry looked around at the disconcerted companions and wondered what possibly could have happened that day.  
"Who did it?" He inquired in his loudest voice, hoping that the elf who brought the news could catch his question. "And how?"  
"Master Thranduil was shot by a poisonous arrow, while riding to Mirkwood." The elf responded immediately, though the next part of his answer caused a considerable pause in the conversation. "It was a human arrow, bearing the sign of the knights of Gondor."  
"Knights of Gondor!" Merry could not prevent himself from muttering that out loud, while the rest of the companions fell silent to this news.  
"But we as knights have strict orders to stay within Gondoran borders!" Pippin piped up quite loudly. "Me and Merry are perhaps the only two riders of Gondor who were allowed to be wandering outside of Gondor!"  
"We have considered that order." The elf said darkly. "But if it was not a Gondoran who shot the arrow but someone else who shot an arrow at master Thranduil bearing the mark of Gondor . It could not have been an elf. We do not shoot a member of our own kind, it is in our nature."  
"I would not accuse the dwarves either, they tend to not wander so far from their mountains." Gandalf suddenly contributed to the conversation.  
"That leaves ." Sam's sentence left a lot of room for thoughts. Unfortunately, there is only one group left unconsidered.  
"Orcs!" Merry suddenly realized and shouted out, then, feeling embarrassed that he had shouted so loudly, he quieted and looked around for the others' reactions.  
"Why would Orcs be aiming for master Thranduil?" Sam asked, perplexed. "They have already overtaken Lothlorien, why would they . ?"  
"A war." Gandalf replied, half to himself. "Don't you see? Why would they need to start a war, If they could create enough tension for us to fight amongst ourselves." 


	5. part 5 the escape

Gingerly, Legolas tested his left arm, to find it almost healed but not quite yet ready to pull for an arrow yet. His stomach growled, reminding him that he had nothing but some wild fruit to eat over the last few days.  
He had gotten used to Orcs, passing by his den by now. He no longer leapt up at their approach but rather shrank back slightly while grasping his short sword. The disguise of the den worked so well no Orc had the intelligence nor the observational skills to see it.  
But he could not wait. The longer he waits, the more danger Aragorn and the rest would be in. so quietly, he stuck out his head from the pine covers, and looked around, listening tensely for any approaching sounds. He himself could not take on an army of magically trained Orcs, he needed help, and for that, he had decided to steal a horse and travel to the closest place where he could find help safely, to Mirkwood, where he knew that his father's people could help him. Bitterly, he wished that Mirkwood would not be overtaken like Lothlorien, and prayed silently for the health of his father, may his father's doom be other than his.  
Silently, he ran from the cave edge to the nearest clump of trees, then stopped to listen again. Noises, from the West! Three Orcs were on their way past this place, and Legolas looked around desperately for a mean of hiding, but unfortunately, in the forest, there were little places to hide. With a exasperated groan, Legolas rolled his eyes and started to climb onto the nearest tree, a very tall cedar. He hoped that the leaves would be sufficient enough to hide him as he nestled on a high branch and look down cautiously.  
The three Orcs walked closer and closer until they were right underneath him. Suddenly, they stopped, and Legolas could feel his heart leaping to his throat. He dearly hoped that the Orcs could not hear his ragged breath as he fought to control his heart beat and stayed as still as a stone. Luckily, the Orcs seemed to only have stopped for enjoyment or talking, for they moved on quite quickly.  
Legolas heaved a heavy sigh and was about to get off the tree when he found his legs virtually glued to the tree. He tried to move and the tree moved with it. Disgusting laughter came from a few meters away and the Orcs walked back at a leisurely pace, and looked up at him.  
"We miss one elf." One of them, apparently the magic user, looked up amusedly and pointed at him. Then, they said something in the Black tongue so offensive that Legolas could feel his temper rise. Quick as lightening, he pulled out an arrow, ignoring the pain in his left arm, and shot it at the magic user. That particular Orc looked up and did not have enough time to react. He was laughing when the arrow thudded directly into his skull. He fell back slowly, and landed with a soft thump onto the ground layered with fallen leaves. Soon enough, the red and yellow leaves all turned a disgusting color of gray as the Orc's body gave off a foul smell. As the magic user died, the magic no longer had an effect on Legolas. Taking this small moment of shock, Legolas leapt down from the tree and shot one more Orc down. This time, the arrow went straight through the chest and came out protruding from the back of the unfortunate Orc. He gave a little scream which turned into a faint gurgle as blood rushed from his mouth; he fell forwards with a surprised expression and landed with his eyes still wide open. The third Orc was smart and turned around to run and get help. Knowing that this could prove to be fatal, Legolas immediately pulled out his short sword with the good right hand and launched himself at the Orc. The Orc was running at his fastest speed, but Legolas had the naturally born advantage of being fast given to him as an elf. He dove forward gracefully and plunged the sword deep into the Orc's lungs, and then, with a hugging posture, snapped the Orc's neck. He did not want the Orc to suffer a slow death.  
Looking down darkly at the three bodies, Legolas chose one of around his height and started to take off his Orc rags. He took off his own cloths and put on the Orc rags so he would not look so suspicious. Fortunately the rags had a hood, and Legolas was able to hide his whitish-golden hair underneath it. Even though it did not hide his height (he was on average a head taller than any Orc), he knew that it offered him tons more protection than his original clothes.  
Stiffly, Legolas wrinkled up his nose. 'These Orc rags stink! Do these Orcs never take baths?' Then, knowing that he has worse things to worry about, Legolas sighed and moved on silently through the foliage.  
He had the minimal idea of where the horses were kept. He had a glimpse of the horse stall on his way into this new piece of woods. These woods were convenient; they were located right between Fangorn and Lothlorien. It has been a year since he last visited Fangorn forest, and since lady Galadriel's kind wish of linking Lothlorien and Fangorn, this new piece of woods was planted and grew amazingly fast into a full grown forest under the care of Lady Galadriel. The horse stall should be closer towards the Lothlorien end, since that is where they entered. Legolas moved his left arm around sorely. It was aching now, though a dull throb, it hurts enough for Legolas to grimace. Without a sound, he slinked through the woods towards the general direction of the horses until he could see the light of the setting sun through the trees in front of him. That meant that he was very close to the edge of the forest. Stopping to listen, he could just barely hear the whinnying of the horse.  
Then he realized that he could hear only one horse. His first thought was My lord! They've slaughtered the rest! A hot rage and a sense of worry crept up upon him, because amongst those horses was his mount ever since he was small, Luranor. Though elves preferred to travel by feet, Luranor had always been Legolas' mount. It was she who carried him to Rivendell from Mirkwood, and she who Gimli brought for them to ride to Lothlorien after Aragorn's downfall. Legolas started running as the whinnying of the last horse turned desperate, and as he got to the clearing, he saw several Orcs encircle Luranor, all of them with knives raised.  
'Slaughter the rest, you may, you half-breeds, but touch Luranor and you shall live in regret!' Legolas thought bitterly as he pulled out two arrows and fired almost instantaneously. Two Orcs who were standing between the straight path between Legolas and Luranor fell, their companions turned to them, surprised. Taking the chance, Legolas gave a loud whistle. Luranor reared up, recognizing the sound. She galloped past the circle of Orcs from the gap created by Legolas' arrows, and made it right for him. As she ran to him, she lowered her head and ran right into him, but Legolas was prepared. This was something they did often. He crossed his arms and held onto her head as she came to him, and she tossed her head up, making Legolas do a backwards-sideways flip as his arms un-crossed, and he landed squarely on her back.  
With an elven shout, he spurred her away from the Orcs, whom were just barely raising an alarm. Their guttural shouts pierced through the silence of the night, as Legolas bent over as not to get knocked off the horse by a low branch. Luranor whinnied but kept on running, straight for Mirkwood, to the place she knew best. As the sound of the Orcs dimmed to his ears, Legolas relaxed a tiny bit and rubbed Luranor behind the ear. The horse did not stop running, instead, she ran faster, and like wind, they streaked through the darkening woodland and paths between Lothlorien and Mirkwood. It was not long before Legolas could hear the sound of the rushing waters of the river Anduin, and gave a soft sigh. But the sounds of more hooves behind him made him sit upright again. The Orcs were catching up.  
Impossible! He thought, and for a second it did seem impossible. He had gotten such an early start from them, how could they have caught up so quickly? Then it occurred to him, and it was with a groan did he realize a fact. 'Magic. There is a magic-user amongst these Orcs. Of course, that was how they had managed to ambush us once again!'  
A few more meters and the river was in sight. The sounds of the approaching hooves drew nearer and nearer until one Orc is already at Legolas' side. Legolas veered right, Luranor turned sharply. This Orc was apparently the magic user because he had left the rest of his companions far behind, he was the only one fast enough to catch up with Luranor.  
"Liehth!" Legolas ordered in Elven tongue. Luranor obediently came to a dead stop, and reared up its hind legs. The Orc's horse could not react enough, and ducked last minute, so Luranor's hooves went directly into the face of a stunned Orc, who did a back flip off his horse. There was a horrible crunching sound and Legolas knew that he was beyond help. It was lucky that he did not use magic when he was that close, because if he did, Legolas would be captured by now. Legolas himself knows little magic, but he knew the terribleness of it. He had seen what Gandalf could do, and many others, also.  
Then, he pulled in Luranor and, together, they crossed the Anduin river. The woods of Mirkwood was already in sight, the leaves glittering underneath the sun. But Legolas immediately sensed that something was wrong. It was mourning. Luranor sensed it too, and slowed purposefully, and gave a soft cough. Legolas could hear it, and could sense it. The trees were mourning, the sun was mourning. An entire atmosphere of sadness hung over Mirkwood like a veil, overshadowing it and enclosing it into gloom despite the sunlight and the blue sky above it.  
But the sound of more horses behind him jolted him back to reality. An arrow rushed by his ears so close he heard the noise made by the rushing wind. "Hia!" He pulled the reins in and shouted, Luranor moved on like lightening towards the woods.  
Then, it had happened so fast Legolas could not respond fast enough. Luranor suddenly froze, as if time had stopped. The momentum sent Legolas flying over her head. His instincts kicking in, he did a flip in mid air and landed shakily onto his feet, almost toppling over, but did not fall. Luranor tumbled over, still frozen in a running position. Legolas looked up, and saw an Orc, almost immediately upon him and Luranor, with his arm raised. His heart filled with hatred and rage, Legolas pulled out an arrow and shot it directly at the Orc's chest. The arrow was true to its mark, except it was frozen in the air millimeters away from its target. With a smirk, the Orc sent it right back at him. Legolas dodged, flipping aside as his own arrow struck the ground and quivered there for a second, exactly where his head was a few seconds ago.  
Then, he felt the strange sensation come over him, and found himself numb, unable to move. Some vine-like magic had crawled up to him, entangling him, making him unable to move from his vulnerable position, facing upwards and lying on the ground.  
The Orc did not do a thing for a few minutes, merely resting or recuperating from the energy lost to cast that spell, and waiting for the others to catch up. With all his willpower, Legolas tried to move desperately. His heart was pounding very fast, but the magic had bound him tightly. The move he tried to move, the more the magic seemed like an invisible hand, strangling him, making him gasp for air by the second. The Orc sat back and watched in sheer pleasure.  
"So, you . elf think himself smart?" He said in ragged common tongue, then said something in Black speech and spat right beside Legolas. "You elves, stupid, bad. You think you big, you think you great, but you no more than worm, you beg for life, I let you go."  
With a grim smile, the Orc clapped his hands together and said something silently. Suddenly, Legolas found his mouth free, though no other part of him could move. He tried to move his legs but they would not budge, as if hot ropes tied them together. Gritting his teeth, Legolas said nothing, merely looked upon the Orc's face with contempt, which was all he felt inside him, boiling up to the surface. He was never too fond of Orcs.  
"You wear Orc, I see." The Orc remarked. Legolas curled his lips sardonically, and dared him to say more. "You don't deserve wear Orc. When companions come, they kill you and take back Orc garments."  
"Not garments, only rags." Legolas retorted, while trying hard not to picture what his body would look like after they're done with him. "You Orcs never had proper garments."  
Hearing this, the Orc seemed more amused than angered. He gave a light leap off his horse, and walked over to Legolas. He then kneeled down, and held one hand onto Legolas' chin, and tilted it upwards so they were face to face. His mouth curled back to reveal a row of rotten teeth, and from which a rotten stench came emanating out of. It almost made Legolas cough in revulsion. "I like you, elf. You strong, you fight. But we kill you anyway."  
Legolas could not have cared less. One look at Luranor, frozen in position, lying on the grass, gave him the courage. He spat onto the Orc's face. It wasn't difficult, since his face was only a few centimeters away. As an instinctive move, the Orc turned his own face sideways as if a blow had struck. Then, for a brief moment, nothing happened. He did not turn his head around, and Legolas glared at him in disdain.  
Then, he turned his head around so fast and bumped his head with all his might onto Legolas' forehead. The pain made Legolas' vision black out for a moment. Legolas could hear his ears ring as the impact hit him. Very soon, his vision returned, and he saw that the rest of the Orcs had caught up by now and had formed a circle around him, pointing their rapiers at him, gibbering away in the Black tongue.  
The magic-user had remounted, and was watching him with the utmost satisfaction. Ignoring the ringing in his ears and the fact that he swore that he could see stars, Legolas frantically tried to think of a way to escape, but he showed no fear to the Orcs. He glared at each of them in turn, making sure that they all understood his loathing of them. 'If I had to die' he thought grimly, 'I will not give into them willingly. I would fight till the end.'  
One of the Orc jumped off his horse impatiently, and waved his dagger at him. With a sign from the magic user, the rest of the Orcs leapt off their horses eagerly, and advanced upon Legolas, their knives and daggers raised, the bloodthirstiness of their kind showing in their eyes.  
The one on the left plunged his dagger down towards Legolas, who determinedly stared up at him, glaring. This was death. Legolas braced himself for the pain and the impact, and looked at Luranor for the last time. 'She was faithful, alright, and she was with me till the end.' He thought, as sadness rushed through him the last second, along with a deep sense of gratitude. He could hear the rushing wind, as the dagger plunged .  
  
Everything froze. Legolas watched in wonder as the dagger stopped a bare hairbreadth away from his chest. Amazed, he stared around at the Orcs. Every single of them was frozen with their triumphant expression still on their faces, the magic user, sitting on his horse, glancing down at him with that victorious sneer. Then, an arrow flew from the woods, and pierced deep into the magic-user's heart. Without a sound, and in slow motion, the Orc first tipped sideways, then leaned further and further until he was at an impossible angle. Then, very slowly, he fell. His head struck the ground first, as his neck broke  
Then the curse was lifted, and Legolas found himself free to move. The first thing he did was to turn around and look at who had helped him, and found several Mirkwood elves, with a wizard amidst them, with their attention all focused on him, with their bows still taught with the arrow readily notched.  
Slowly, the elves all lowered their weapons one by one, and filed over to Legolas, with the wizard behind them. As soon as they reached Legolas, they all kneeled suddenly.  
"Greetings, kinsmen. Something is wrong, please tell me." Legolas inquired as he sat up, rubbing his legs grimly. They hurt terribly as a result of the spell, and he found little strength to move further.  
"A great one has passed away, lord." One of the elves said without looking up. None of the others dared to meet his eyes.  
"Who had . lord?" Legolas was going to ask who had died, but the way they called him made him stop. "I am but merely the prince, my father is your lord."  
"No." One of the elves replied dully. "The great king Thranduil had . passed away, you, my prince, you are now the lord of Mirkwood, the king of our kind."  
There was a shocked silence that followed, where nobody knew what to say. Legolas felt the numbness climbing up him again, with a feeling exactly like when he was hit by the spell. Every part of him became immobile, as he sat on the ground, gazing blankly into the circle of elves whom were all kneeling around him.  
"How?" A hushed noise came out of his mouth. It was barely distinguishable, but the elves all understood.  
"Pierced through the heart, my lord." The head elf replied grimly, looking up a little to glance at Legolas' reaction. "By a human arrow."  
"We must avenge him!" Said a voice from somewhere in the circle, and the head elf glared at the speaker.  
"No!" Legolas shouted before he realized what it was that he had said. All the elves around him had turned to him now, surprised. "I mean ." He hastily corrected himself. "I mean we must search for evidence! Now let us move back into the woods."  
And he took the lead, and the rest of the elves followed after him silently single filed, following his back. None of the elves behind him saw those tears that streaked down his cheeks as he silently struggled on through the woods. 


	6. part 6 departures from Rivendell

"Aha, I am glad that Rivendell is still a safe place." Merry said without a care in the world as he loaded his plate of dry cheese. In the bright morning sun, he felt safe and warm as he strolled down the tables containing an assortment of meats, fruits, bread, and cheese.  
"Mmmm . elf cheese ." Pippin said beside him as he popped a chunk of white cheese as bit as his fist into his mouth. Sam was helping Frodo load his plate full of roast beef and baked bread, as he himself was looking around in amazement at the banquet of foods prepared for them.  
Merry took a look around at his companions. Gandalf was too busy deep in conversation with Elrond to take notice of his meats which were going cold very fast. Elrond had a frown upon his face, which only seemed to deepen by the second. The other elves were walking around on their own business, their dark brown hair glimmering beneath the autumn sun. Old Bilbo Baggins had finished his meal and inevitably drifted off to sleep, his hands hung by his side, his head slightly tilted to the left, and he was snoring gently.  
"I wonder when he is leaving." Pippin muttered to himself. It did not escape the notice of Merry's sharp ears.  
"When they're leaving, you mean." He corrected Pippin hurriedly. Pippin turned around and smiled.  
"I still cannot believe this." He tugged slightly at Merry's sleeves and sighed. "Imagine this. Why, I would never have thought of this just a few days ago. Frodo and Sam, now imagine! Them, both born with the spark of magic within them!"  
"And off to Isengard they go, to study magic." Merry mused, trying to picture Frodo in a tall hat and holding a staff that was twice as tall as him. "I believe they shall have fun at it, too."  
"Why, I just simply cannot picture them as wizards!"  
"Neither can I, my friend." Merry said affectionately, looking at his old times companions. "We are splitting up again, I am afraid!"  
"Hehe." Pippin merely gave a chuckle, nothing more. He lit his pipe and puffed lightly on it, then turned to look at the setting sun. "Sunset." He said, and pointed at the sun.  
Merry squinted his eyes towards the sun, which was just going below the mountains, making the mountains as dark as shadows. At that moment, he saw movement on the peak of a cliff. It would not have been apparent during the daytime, but the sun behind the mountain had made every movement along the outline of the mountain very obvious.  
"Who is . that . ?" Merry said as he pointed in the general direction of the movement. Elrond and Gandalf were finished with their conversations now and were looking around in interest. As they saw Merry point, they both focused their attention to where his finger was directed to. At first, they both thought that he was enjoying the sunset, but soon, Elrond's sharp Elven eyes picked out the movement amongst the hills.  
"Alarm!" He shouted, and almost magically, all the elves pulled out their bows and arrows. Tensely, Elrond lifted his arm to point in the general direction of the movement, which was now rapidly descending down the hills and towards Rivendell.  
"Go and see who our visitor is." He ordered the nearest elf, who nodded and ran off at a fast trot in the direction of the incomer.  
"Is it an enemy?" Frodo asked Elrond worriedly as Elrond looked far away.  
"We could not be sure for now." Elrond replied in an uncertain voice. "But my feelings tells me it is a friend, though he bears sad news."  
The figure could now be seen clearly, riding upon a horse. The messenger was running back now, his hair flowing out behind him as his Elven boots made a soft thump on the grassy ground whenever his feet landed.  
He came to Elrond and immediately kneeled. "It is our messenger to Lothlorien, my lord." He reported gravely. "He carries emergency news, it is a grave tragedy."  
Elrond sighed as if it was the last thing he had wanted to hear, but now the elf on the horse had entered Rivendell and was galloping towards him at great speed. Everyone's breath almost stopped. No one knew what kind of calamity could cause an elf to ride thus far at that speed. As the figure approached Elrond, the horse gave a soft whinny and collapsed. It had apparently been running for a long time and needed rest badly. Some elves immediately went over to tend the horse as the rider was flung off, fell numbly aside, then immediately leapt up and hobbled over to Elrond and kneeled shakily.  
"What news?" Elrond said urgently as he bent down to the elf. Involuntarily, Merry gathered around him, feeling Pippin following him at once. Frodo and Sam had already walked over now, and Gandalf was standing right behind Elrond, his expression once again shaded by his hat, unreadable as ever. Bilbo, unaware that this had happened, was still dreaming away deep in his sleep on his chair.  
"Lady . lady Galadriel, taken . captured, woods were, were lost!" He said in no more than a breath, gasping for air in the middle. Even though said silently, the words had their impact. "Lord Celeborn also . taken, and Lord Aragorn and Gimli, son of . of Gloin ."  
The safety of his companions were the first thing on Merry's mind as he listened to this news. As he heard Aragorn and Gimli's name, he felt relief running through him, and horror. It meant that they are still alive, but under the captivity of the Orcs. But there was one other name.  
"And Legolas?" He asked softly, his heart thumping.  
"Disappeared!" The elf replied, seeming as puzzled as Merry was. "He . was not there when the . invasion happened, but he was . apparently within the woods before . have no idea where he was . hope he had made it through ."  
Merry was very comforted at the thought of not having to find Legolas killed, but at the same time, gone missing in woods full of Orcs was not exactly the best place to be. Then, he noticed the wounds on the messenger, which an elf maiden was tending to.  
"Can you stand? You need a bed." Elrond said briskly, and yet quite concerned.  
"No, I am sorry, my lord, but I found it impossible to move anymore."  
"Then please recount your story here." Gandalf said behind Elrond's back, surprising everybody, Merry included. In the light of what had just happened, they all seemed to have forgotten each other's existence until they spoke up, the same goes for Gandalf. For a second, by the expression on Elrond's face, Merry was sure that he had also forgotten that Gandalf was right behind him.  
"Yes, Mithrandir." The elf's breath was calmed down now, and he winced as the elf maiden applied some clear medicine to the gash on his shoulder. "I have been fighting Orcs for a lot of my life, so I know quite a bit of Black tongue. The story is simple. I got to the woods but found no Elven kin to greet me. Then the atmosphere of the forest struck me. The trees told of a horrible incident, and so I was cautious. Upon treading through the woods, I came upon a crowd of Orcs. I listened to just enough of their words to find out what had truly happened." Then, he grimaced as if remembering a nightmare. "It was then that they discovered me, and . it was quite a chase."  
"You have done well." Elrond said in his deep voice, and made a small gesture with his hands towards the dwelling behind him. "Go and rest now, you shall need it."  
The elf smiled and nodded respectfully before walking off at a hobble towards the place Elrond had indicated to. That was the chamber of healing, Frodo had almost died of the poison on a knife on their previous journey here and he had awoken in the same place, the chamber of healing.  
"The situation is grave indeed ." Elrond murmured as if to himself. Nobody had anything to say. The situation was that nobody knew what to say. Peace was too short. In fact, peace was always too short. The journey of the ring was barely over, the wounds barely healed, before this new wave of danger had risen.  
"And more the haste for more wizards on our side!" Gandalf stated decisively. "We had taken in several new pupils to Isengard this year, and now Frodo and Sam are to be taken there too ."  
"We must have more wizards readily trained and on our side before this war gets to the open world!" Elrond said, turning his head sideways to look at Frodo and Sam, who both went red at all the attention pressed their way.  
"Then the sooner we should depart." Gandalf said as he sat down beside the table and started to help himself to the food.  
Frodo looked very unwilling to leave this haven of peace and quiet, and Sam seemed as if he had quite enough of adventures, but both of them nodded and started to wolf down the food in front of them, knowing very well that on a journey, the food could never be as good. They had to survive on lembas for quite a long time before, and knew perfectly clear what it felt like. As Frodo had said before, it was as if their taste buds went numb and could not taste anything anymore.  
That night, all Rivendell was ablaze with the news. There was not one corner, one corridor, where the news could not be heard to be discussed. It traveled like wildfire until everyone knew what had happened. The moonlight shone and it was a clear night, there was not a cloud in the sky. The stars twinkled without a worry in the world, oblivious of all the frowns down on earth.  
Merry could not sleep.  
Something was calling to him. Maybe it was the moon, or the stars, but something led him out of his bed and into the silvery night. At first, he thought it was just because of his anxiety for his friends, so he walked barefoot upon the cold pebbles, across the gardens of Rivendell, by himself. For most of the time he very much appreciated Pippin's company, but somehow tonight he preferred the silence just the way it was. There was something quite inviting about the silence, but it was a fragile peace. As he turned around a bend, he saw someone standing by the fountain, and stopped dead. At that moment, Merry was standing facing the moonlight, so he could not see any specific features of the person standing there, who looked like a shadow to him, all black against the radiance surrounding him. But by the height and the posture, Merry could tell it was Elrond. Elrond was standing beside the white marble fountain, deep in thought. His eyes were focused as if looking at some invisible object, he did not notice Merry coming, and Merry had no intentions of scaring him by springing onto him. A surprised elf could be dangerous.  
"Master Elrond?" Merry said tentatively, in a soft voice. Then, seeing that Elrond did not notice him, he made a tiny cough, and said a bit louder, "Master Elrond."  
Then, as if noticing him for the first time, Elrond turned around to look at him, half side of his face thrown into sharp contrast in the moon's rays.  
"Can you not sleep?" Elrond asked gracefully before sitting down onto the side of the fountain. It was more of a remark than a question, for Merry knew perfectly well that Elrond understood why he was not asleep yet, for Elrond shared the same worry.  
"No. Master Elrond, it is a beautiful night, so peaceful." Merry made an unnecessary remark, for he felt as if he had to say something.  
"Peaceful it is, but paid for with a great price, and still more hardships yet to come ." Elrond sighed, running his hand into the water inside the fountain, making soft ripples go in every direction.  
"I shall soon dispatch a group of peacekeepers to Mirkwood, to inform of the incidences on the tragedy, and to hear of their future plans." Elrond looked into the pool of water, reflecting. Then . "Tell me, Meriadoc Brandybuck, have you ever been to the fountain of confession?"  
"Fountain of confession?" Merry was puzzled, for he had never heard of such a term from the elves. Its existence was a mystery to him. "No."  
"There is one in Mirkwood, one here, and one in Lothlorien. The Elven kind uses it as . confession room of some type, like the humans do, except we do not have sins that often. We merely confess our troubles and lift off the burden from our shoulders."  
"Well, I am sure that the elves will have somewhere to turn to in the time of trouble." Merry merely replied, wondering what Elrond could possibly mean by telling him this.  
"My friend ." Elrond continued, after a considerable pause. "If you have any troubles, that you need to be lifted off your shoulders before your departure, please feel free to tell."  
Merry was temporarily puzzled by this, as in he had no troubles nor thoughts to share.  
But Elrond seemed satisfied by the pause, and got up to go. Seeing Merry unmoving, he turned around.  
"Get some sleep, friend. You two have a long journey in front of you."  
"What?" Merry was puzzled. Nobody had mentioned this before.  
"At times like this, we need you and Pippin to carry news to Mirkwood, that it is, in fact, not a human who had committed the great crime. As you arrive there, you shall present yourselves as friends of Legolas, prince.no, king of Mirkwood. Then, you will have their support, which would be a good time to search for Legolas."  
"Alright, sir." Merry said dispiritedly. He was starting to enjoy the good food and soft bed in Rivendell.  
As if able to read his mind, Elrond gave a chuckle. "Young one," He said. "When you return, there will always be food and bed readily at your call."  
"What do you see in our futures.Lord?" Merry asked, looking up, his eyes shining in the moonlight.  
"I do not know." Elrond answered softly, looking away. "Only time can tell."  
Merry knew at that moment that he would receive no further guidance from this elven lord. With a slight sigh, Merry tried to put up his happiest face for this occasion.  
"Well, just more adventure for me and Pippin, is it not?"  
Elrond did not reply, which deeply troubled Merry. As he laid in bed that night, he thought of the expression upon Elrond's face when he was standing in the moonlight, and knew, instinctively, that a distinct hint of uncertainty troubled Elrond's mind. The same uncertainty crossed his mind, and he could not bring himself to fall asleep.  
The curtains rustled. At first, it seemed like nothing important. Just then, Merry remembered that the window was closed. Noiselessly, he stretched his hand towards his left side as silently as he could, reaching for his short sword. It was then when his hand landed on someone's hairy hand.  
"Aaaaaaaaaaaah!" Merry gave a loud scream and leapt off the bed in a rolling motion. The other person, startled at this outcome, was also shocked into screaming. In the darkness, Merry and the other person continued to scream until Merry felt the flint underneath his fingers, struck it, and lit a lantern nearby. Then, he looked into the screaming visage of Pippin. Half angry, half exasperated, with a slight sense of amusement, Merry walked over and struck playfully on the side of Pippin's head to get him to stop screaming.  
"Aaaaaaa~oww!" Pippin's scream abruptly ended in a groan. "Watch where you're hitting, you gave me quite a fright. You might have killed me just then!"  
"Serves you right for sneaking into my room. I thought Lord Elrond made it plentifully clear that this was MY room only?"  
"I just came here to tell you we must leave for Mirkwood tomorrow!" Pippin could barely contain the excitement in his voice. He was aiming for a mysterious whisper, which failed miserably as his own shock began to show through.  
"I know." Merry answered, not amused anymore. this brought an hasty stop to Pippin's enthusiasm. He was apparently expecting a different reaction from his companion.  
"Another adventure, old friend." Pippin said, closely regarding the expression on his old friend's face. "Yet we are still leaving together." Sighing, he pulled out his pipe and stuffed a handful of weed from the Shire into it. "Remember, old friend? This weed.from Isengard?"  
"How could I forget?" Merry replied, looking at the smoke. "Gimme some of that!"  
Pippin laughed. He could see that his friend had regained some of his normal spirit. "We brought down Isengard, we did, with the help of Treebeard." His mind went back to the time when they rode high on Treebeard's branches as the Ents, in their rage, flooded Isengard. It was indeed a moment to remember, it had been their moments of glory.  
Merry licked his lips and could almost taste the Ent draught. "There are more things worth remembering, Pippin." Pippin laughed and puffed on his smoke, while Merry took out his own pipe and filled with the fine filling. "These traveled far. From the Shire, to Isengard, then back, and after all this. It ended up in Rivendell."  
"Where will we end up?"  
Pippin's sudden question surprised Merry, so did his serious tone.  
Merry could only shrug. 


	7. the new elven lord

"Let the council begin." Legolas could hear his own voice boom through the magnificent hall of Mirkwood, as the other elves of high ranking sat around the oval table made of hard red pine. The hall sounded strangely empty, and his words reverberated against the glorious chamber walls.  
"We have an urgent matter at hand!" One elf stood up immediately, and began his speech. Tired, Legolas sat back down and rubbed at his temples impatiently. Sometimes he considered his kind to be wise, other times, they are without reason the most impatient and rash race in middle-earth. The elf saw his actions and stood waiting. Not bothering to hurry, Legolas continued to rub his temple for a few seconds, then put down his hand slowly, and fixed the speaking elf with a stare. The elf cleared his throat and began. "The murder of Lord Thranduil cannot be passed just like this! Some action must be taken! The arrow was one of that of Gondor, formerly under the rule of lord Aragorn, who is now the lord..." he sneered. "A refugee lord, apparently."  
"Objection!" Another elf shot up, rigid with rage. "That is outright disrespect towards the king of men!"  
Suddenly, every elf there seemed to have taken a side, as they all stood up in a hurry, and the meeting abruptly turned into a shouting session. Legolas rolled his eyes impatiently and banged down very hard on his table. His hand hurt, but it had its effect. The noise stopped immediately as all the elves looked at him. Some older elves were about to object when they remembered that he was the king now. Grumpily, still glaring at the opposition, both sides sat down.  
"Our objective is not to discuss the matter of men; this meeting is for discussing the death of Thranduil! For further actions, let us not result to lowly name-calling like children!" Legolas could feel the sound wave of his voice traveling in every direction. At that instant, his face was hard. He was no longer the young prince, but a lord of elves. Regally, he sat back down onto the chair and leaned back, worn-out. His eyes surveyed the room, and every pair of eyes looked back with respect. "Please continue, speaker, but no more disrespect."  
"Yes, m'lord." The elf looked flustered, but only for a brief second. He was recomposed almost immediately, and began. "Men these days grows weak, they have ruined much, and taken even more. As a last resort to end this long growing tension, I ... I suggest war."  
Even though the last suggestion was bold and sudden, no one found it surprising. It had been a common topic inside everyone's head. Nobody dared to voice it before, but the tension was growing. Ever since the death of Haldir, there had been rumors of humans sabotaging Haldir as a reason of his death. The tension grew so large that it seemed to loom over all inhabitants of middle-earth. The dwarves had excluded themselves back into their mountain caves again, preferring to stay out of this entirely. The speaker cleared his throat again, and looked around the room once before sitting back down. Instantaneously, another several hands rose. Legolas acknowledged Halden, Haldir's brother.  
"There is no reason not to go to war." He said calmly. "I even would support war, for there had been rumors that my brother was sabotaged by humans. But... war is not a wise alternative. We must carefully consider the results of a full-grown war if warfare ever has its toll on us. We must cautiously collect evidence before making any moves. There must be a justified cause for war, and an arrow is not enough proof. Any creature on middle-earth might have gotten an arrow from Gondor. For as far as we know, these arrows are all over middle-earth."  
Legolas let out a small sigh. 'Just what I wanted to say.' He thought. 'And even better, he has his supporters. I am in a more precarious situation than he is, and with him on my side, I can securely be the king and rule over Mirkwood, hopefully preventing warfare.'  
"I agree with the suggestion of Halden, that careful investigation and negotiations should set forth before the outright war. We do have alternatives." Another spoke up. The tension suddenly grew to a dangerous level. Seeing another storm on the horizon, Legolas wasted no time in raising his hand for silence.  
A few elves started to shout anyway. It was only days after Thranduil's death, and the elves were not yet used to being under the command of someone so young. Only few noticed Legolas' upraised hand and remained silent. The heated debate merely started before the shouting elves realized that something was wrong. They slowly looked towards the seat of the king, saw Legolas with his hand raised, it was as if the storm had came to an abrupt end.  
"I suggest let the king have a word. He is, after all, the heir of the throne, the rightful king at the current moment!" Someone said softly from the assembly.  
Legolas was hoping this moment would not come. He was not yet ready to take a stance. His feelings and his friendship for Aragorn held back his will to avenge his father, and yet if he ordered careful investigation, this would postpone the actions taken for his father's death, and it would anger many. If the war started, someway or another, Legolas knew that the dwarves would be pulled into this. After all, they were a major part of life force on middle-earth. And how many wizards would take side with the elves? With men? And what destruction would this cause for the hobbits? The Ents? Too many questions, too many concerns. Legolas felt torn between the need and pride of his kind, and the emotional attachment for the other races who had shown themselves worthy, through the participation of one or more of their kind in the fellowship. If there's something that would clear this all up, it is a conversation with Aragorn, and yet Aragorn is not here. Legolas also dearly wished for the council and advice of Mithrandir, but he is with the hobbits. Mithrandir...  
"I shall seek advice from Mithrandir." Legolas said, loud enough for the whole hall to hear. Though displeased that no actions were taken immediately, most elves had enough respect for Gandalf to keep their discontentment to themselves. Some were even glad, because the war was, if not annulled, delayed to say the least.  
"Does your highness have ways of reaching Mithrandir?" Someone dared a question from the crowd. Legolas knew, from the murmur that arose, that if he did not have a response fast enough, there would be much arguing over this matter.  
"I will personally ride to consult him. He should be in the Shire right now, amongst the ring-bearers, the knight of Gondor, and the Rider of Rohan."  
Subconsciously, Legolas felt the ring under his fingers. The ring has a stamp on top, it was the mark of the king of Mirkwood. That ring was the very symbol of the king, as the crown is to a human king. Since his father died, the ring had been conveniently passed down to him, and yet, right now, Legolas could almost fully understand the responsibility and burden the ring carried.  
"Who shall be in charge in your absence, my lord?" Halden asked boldly. This time, instead of another wave of mutters, the hall was silent. With the superb hearing of the elves, Legolas could easily hear the chirping of the crickets outside. Nobody even dared to breath, for this moment was of utmost importance. Elves, though graceful creatures, politic just as much as humans, if not more. Involuntarily, many in the hall eyed the silver ring on Legolas' finger. Everybody was thinking it, Halden just had enough courage to ask it.  
'If you would only understand the burden.' Legolas thought to himself. "I shall place Sarlan in charge, are there any objections? If yes, speak now, for this chance comes and passes." He then said.  
Grumbles could be heard throughout the hall. Sarlan stood in shock, surprise clearly written all over his face. He had known that he was one of the possible candidates for the temporary throne, but he had many competitors. He, being senior, and one of the most adept at politicking and usage of magic, was also a brilliant tactician. However, there are many others who qualify just as much, if not more. Halden, brother of Haldir, qualified just as much.  
"Do you, Sarlan, son of Galaden, accept this heavy responsibility to carry out the temporary role of the king, while keeping your place?"  
"I do." With as much gravity and seriousness as he could manage, Sarlan gave a humble bow, as he went to take his place beside the king.  
"If there are any objections, speak up now, for this is the final moment of indecision before the fate of the woods rests on this man's shoulders?"  
One of the most influential elf tentatively raised his hand, but only as his head. Knowing the discomfort and taking full advantage of it, Legolas pretended not to notice, and made one brief sweep around the hall, before announcing, "The decision is final, then, From here forth, I shall be your king, but he shall be your regent king. I have power over him, yet he holds command over you all. Good night, may your rests be well, tomorrow shall be a long day."  
And with that formal conclusion, the meeting ended. The assembly broke apart and went towards each of their different sections. It had always been customary for the king to be the last to leave, so Legolas stayed on his cushioned seat and watch the entire group disintegrate, grumbling and murmuring to each other. The hall was soon silent, except for one. Halden had stayed behind, perhaps in hope of talking with Legolas. With a sigh, Legolas stood up regally and beckoned towards Halden with an imperious sign. With a bow, Halden walked forward.  
"My lord..." Halden only just began when he was immediately cut off by Legolas' wave of his hand.  
"Do not call me that, for there are only the two of us left here. You are what I would call a very close friend, my only reliable council, so please do not use the formal title. I wish for a friend to discuss with, not another royal politician." Legolas told him, signaling that he should sit where Sarlan sat a few minutes ago.  
Without signs of astonish, Halden sat down.  
"You do understand, Halden, why I had chosen Sarlan instead of you, even though you are more qualified for the position?"  
"I understand, Legolas."  
Satisfied that Halden referred to him by his name, Legolas continued. "You are senior, loyal, and one of the wisest elf I've ever met, and yet, also because of that, I would like to have your advice on special matters. Sarlan is quite conservative, like his father before him, so I thought it was wise to put him in charge. He would not start the war without my permission, and he would carefully consider things before acting upon them."  
"Legolas, you wish for me to accompany you?"  
"Something had began, and yet I do not know what it is." Legolas said, deeply troubled. "Something big, that overshadows all else. This time, though, I feel as if we have a fighting chance, for we fight not against some unconquerable high lord, but merely Orcs, Orcs with magic. It is a battle, but something is amiss. I have my suspicions, but I must consult with Mithrandir, for his wisdom may proof to be valuable, yet again."  
"There is something else." Halden noted, looking at Legolas' expression. Legolas deeply appreciated this acute sense of judgment, it was one of many of Halden's miraculous traits.  
"We must save Aragorn. For if he stayed within the reach of the Orcs, then they may full well take his garments to threaten Lady Arwen, whose feelings for Aragorn had been proven thousand times over. And if that happens, the elves would not be the only race in danger, and furthermore, there would be no Aragorn's advice and trusty sword to rely on. To prevent something like this from happening, we must save Aragorn first."  
"Save Aragorn? Orcs?" Halden was momentarily confused, but he figured it out soon enough, and gave a sharp intake of breath. "That is a perilous situation. I fear that if we were to accomplish this task by ourselves... it would prove to be difficult."  
"We must, Halden." Legolas replied. He had seen this coming, and knew full well the things at risk, but he understood what was at stake. "For some reason, the Orcs are keeping the capture of Aragorn a secret, probably to use it later as an element of surprise to their advantage. The more people knows about Aragorn's capture, the more dangerous the situation is. The elves... you saw the reactions in the hall today ... might see this as a great opportunity to start war, and even Sarlan may not hold. The humans ... they may go into panic. Rumors tend to spread the fastest amidst the humans, and they will throw themselves into needless panic, and the dwarves has no reason to be pulled into this all."  
Halden did not speak a word, but merely listened and nodded. By the end, he gave a final nod, as if taking this all in. His eyes showed that he still had certain doubts, but a deep sense of royalty in the Greenleaf family made him choke back all words of complaint.  
"Young, yet wise for your age. You have certainly taken the time to consider all possibilities, Legolas." He said finally, while Legolas gave a slight smile. "Let us hope that we survive this all, then we shall truly see how wise you are."  
"We take Lythran's path, then cross the Anduin river into Lothlorien, that should keep us away from the major force of the Orcs in Lothlorien, as far as I gathered from my last visit there." Legolas said, moving into the action plan. He did not wish to dwindle, for the life of one of his dearest friends lies in peril, and time along can make a big difference.  
"We walk?"  
"Time does not allow us to walk. We must ride. I know..." Legolas stated, looking at the bewildered expression on Halden's face. "I know that the condition of Lythran's path is very bad for horses, but we must ride. Time is running short, we have no alternatives."  
Halden nodded. Then, seeing that Legolas was unwilling to speak more on this matter, he put in his own thoughts. "It seemed that the Orcs are massing, and they have more reasons than just simply to capture and kill lord Aragorn."  
"So it seems. I suspect something is afoot, but that will depend upon the intelligence of the new breed of Orcs. If they are smart enough and capable...we may be faced with yet another war."  
Tired, and completely drained of energy, Legolas rubbed at his temples again and made it for the king's chamber. It was his fathers, and now, it was his. When he was little, Legolas enjoyed walking into the room, and staring up at the splendor of it all. The wooden walls polished to shine like marble, the large writing desk with the eagle quill pen, the enormous bed with velvet covers. It was luxury, and he longed to one day own it, but now as he walked towards his childhood dream, the weight of it all fell heavily onto his shoulders. Everything in the room, every corner, every shadow, reminded him of his father. He left his father for the fellowship of the ring, returned only briefly after the fellowship, before leaving for the glittering caves with Gimli. Upon leaving the caves, they were both on their way back home when the Orcs stampeded Minas Tirith, the temporary resting place of Aragorn. Regretting not being able to see his father before his death, Legolas walked gloomily towards the giant wooden desk. It was made of cedar, polished with the finest oils. Moodily, he ran his fingertips lightly over the top, feeling the smooth, cold wood beneath his fingers, lost deep in thought of his father.  
It might have been foresight, but Legolas knew. Before long, another war will begin. It was just a feeling, but it lodged itself deep within Legolas' heart. He tried to imagine what would have happened if this all had not happened, if the Orcs simply disbanded, leaving middle-earth in peace. He would have gone to Fangorn with Gimli, then taken a group of his father's people to Ithilien, and make it, once again, the most beautiful place on middle-earth. 'Yes, my father's people.' He thought grimly. 'I do not believe it was a human who killed my father. My father would still have been alive if the Orcs were not here.' He would, then, take his heart's dream, and sail the seas. Of course, that would mean leaving Gimli behind, but it was something Legolas had his heart set on going, and nothing was going to change that.  
Silently, a figure behind the door left, seeing that no more could be heard from Legolas' plan. As he ran down the hallway, in the complete darkness, he bumped onto someone on his way out. The other elf made an undistinguishable sound, but the figure could not speak, in fear that his identity could be given away. Ignoring the angry grumbles of the voice behind, the figure made his way out of the winding tunnels and into the opening. Then, it ran for the horse pen. Without a moment's delay, it took out the first horse, also the closest horse to the main dwelling of Mirkwood, but he had the unfortunate luck to come upon Luranor. Not used to be ridden by anyone but Legolas, Luranor gave an angry whinny of protest and reared up when the figure tried to pull it out of the horse pen. Suddenly, elven voices came from nearby. Some elves passing by heard Luranor's angry whinny.  
Cursing softly, the figure kicked Luranor, which earned him another whinny, as Luranor pranced around, and sent the hay flying in every which direction.  
The figure grabbed the next horse, left, and disappeared into the dark night. 


	8. the meeting and the trap

"Well, it does seem quiet without Samwise Gamgee's complaints." Merry said, stifling a yawn, as his horse gave a soft whinny, unhappy about being awakened so early.  
"Just us two on the road." Pippin replied pointlessly, patting his mare unnecessarily on the neck, as the two horses, carrying their riders, trotted lightly down the path.  
"Did Frodo already leave when we left?"  
"He and Sam and Gandalf left early." Pippin affirmed. "I was up early too."  
"What were you doing up early?" Merry asked incredulously, his curly hair bouncing to the rhythm of the horse's trot.  
"Did I tell you they had plenty of good carrots and cabbages in the elves' vegetable patch?"  
"You were off stealing elven vegetables!" Merry said accusingly, not happy that he was left out of the fun.  
"I got the feeling that some of them saw me at it, but chose to leave me alone." Pippin shrugged, and opened his backpack and took out a large tomato with a slice of cheddar cheese. "Want some?"  
Merry nodded fervently, and Pippin tossed him a small chunk of cheese with a sausage. Merry caught it in midair and immediately stuffed the sausage into his mouth. The delicious flavors of it filled his mouth for a moment as he closed his eyes to enjoy the taste. "Elves are good cooks, are they not?"  
"I would say they are." Pippin nibbled on the edge of the cheese while chewing the tomato.  
"Did he tell you that Frodo and company left for a different reason?" Merry said suddenly. Pippin's chewing became quiet as he took a sideway glance at Merry, and saw there was no humor in his expression.  
"Tell." He replied simply, seemingly uncaring, but his expression also sobered.  
"They will look through the great library first. they must find out how the Orcs got past the magic borders and killed the sentries. According to Lord Elrond, the counter-spell to the Orcs will be the first things Frodo and Sam will learn." Merry said all this within one breath, then waited for a response. In truth, there was no point in those two having this conversation, but it was a source of their worries.  
Pippin did not reply. "According to our past journey, we have just skirted around the mines of Moria on a new path opened by the elves, and are now approaching Lothlorien."  
"I know that, you fool." Merry said half-jokingly, while he looked ahead, and gave a grim sigh. Lothlorien, the golden woods filled with sunlight, beauty and enchantment, had never looked so grim. Without a sign of life, it seemed dark and dense.  
"Why, if it isn't Peregrin Took and Meriadoc Brandybuck. We almost mistook you for Orcs at that distance!" Said a familiar voice from behind the two. Whipping out their weapons, the two twisted their horses around to face the source of sound, and found, to their great relief, Legolas, riding upon Luranor, beside a strange elf which neither Pippin nor Merry had met before, but the strange elf's face bear striking resemblance.  
"Legolas!" The two almost shouted, but, remembering that they were now in hearing range of the Orcs, the two remembered to keep quiet.  
"Legolas!" Merry whispered. "Where have you been?"  
"The elf that came to us reported you missing!" Pippin pressed urgently, and rode over to gather Legolas into an embrace.  
"I somehow wish that in times like these, we have faster methods of communication." Legolas said in a hearty tone, while trying to hug Pippin and Merry at the same time. "I went back to Mirkwood, the last messenger I dispatched should be arriving at Rivendell any time soon."  
"A bit late." Merry chuckled. "But still, I guess it is the thought that counts."  
"What are you two doing here?" Legolas asked, his voice suddenly turned serious, as the stranger elf regarded the two hobbits with mild interest.  
"Well, we were send off to Mirkwood to inform you that it was not a human who shot your father." Pippin replied. The answer was so straightforward Merry glared at him. But Legolas did not seem to care how tactless this reply was.  
"As I would have guessed." He sighed. "Someone is trying to start a war."  
"But we need proof!" The strange elf suddenly spoke up. Merry and Pippin had completely forgotten about his existence and turned to face him with surprise on their faces.  
"Yes, Halden, we need proof." Legolas mused. "The closest group of Orcs we have to us is the group in Lothlorien, and if we can capture a wizard Orc and bring him to questioning at Isengard, why, with Gandalf's arts, we shall soon get word out of him, which could be used as proof."  
"And also," Pippin butted in. "since Rohan and Gondor are both under Aragorn's rule, me and Merry received similar rules. No knight of Gondor nor rider of Rohan are allowed to leave town without a specific reason, and right now, me and Merry are the only two out of the kingdom."  
"What are you doing here?" It just suddenly occurred to Merry that Legolas should be back at Mirkwood, with no reason to be here. Legolas had an expression which told them that he had been expecting this question for a long time.  
"We are going in to set free the people captured." Halden spoke up. "It was purely incidental that we met. I have heard a lot about you two, Halflings."  
"You look familiar." Merry pointed out, while Pippin nodded vigorously. "It was as if I had seen your face before, but it was different then..."  
"It was my brother you met." Halden said solemnly. "My brother is Haldir, he was sent with an army to help with the fight at Helm's Deep. You two were said to be in Fangorn at the time, but you probably glimpsed at my brother's face in the great halls of Gondor. He was laid there."  
Merry sank into an awkward silence. There had always been a rumor that Haldir died of a sabotage. He was rumored to be shot by one of the humans, but in the chaos of the battle, nobody paid attention to who the owner of that arrow was. Back then, when the battle raged, each of the opponent side picked up random arrows off the ground to fill their quivers, so the arrow could prove nothing. Even knowing the fact that an arrow could prove nothing, prejudice runs deeper than anyone would have thought.  
It was as if Halden could read minds, for when he spoke up, he spoke for all. "Do not worry, young Halfling." He said softly to Merry, noticing his discomfort. "Those were but rumors. Without evidence, it could not be believed."  
Slightly reassured, Merry could only give a half-hearted nod, and turned to look at Pippin.  
"Well, I suppose that you two are going in by yourselves, are you not?" Pippin demanded. Suddenly, this conversation had taken on a twist which made Merry's heart leap. The thought of another adventure was scary, almost daring, but exciting. At the same time, Legolas and Halden tossed each other a look and seemed to realize what was going on. "In short, you two shall not be coming." Legolas said, with a note of finality in his tone. "By light I should not let you come. You Halflings had been through already twice if not more than what we expected out of you, and you both have done your parts well. This is one dangerous task which you shall not risk."  
"But..." Pippin opened his mouth to complain, but Merry was already on his way into Lothlorien. "I thought I'd said that you two shall not be coming!" Legolas whispered urgently after Merry's disappearing figure. Merry turned around, trying his best to have an exaggerated exasperated expression on his face. "You might need back up, you see." He said lightly, still making towards the woods. "We are here to provide some back up in case something happened to you. We do not want the prince of Mirkwood disappearing into Lothlorien, do we? Now that could cause complications." "You do not yet see the gravity and dangerousness of this task!" Halden explained, exasperated. "Please understand, this may cost your lives." "I am willing to risk that chance." Pippin, catching onto the conversation, stuck his chin high up in the air and followed after Merry. Halden was on the verge of making further attempts to stop Pippin and Merry when, with a slight wave of hand, Legolas stopped him, and watched the disappearing figures of the hobbits with mild interest. In all his years, though he was considered young by elven standards, Legolas had actually been through quite a lot, and gradually, he felt the spirit of adventure return to him, as eager as it was during the journey of the ring. With a sudden jolt, Legolas discovered that he wasn't ready to settle down with the elves and dwell in Ithilien. That had been his plan, and yet, now, as the spirit of adventure stirred within him, Legolas knew that he wanted to see. He couldn't understand exactly what it was he wanted to see, but he wanted to see the world, to know the world. He knew then that it was an impossible dream, for the world was possibly too big for him to explore all of its mysteries, but he had to start somewhere, and he wanted adventure, as if it was built into his blood. Wistfully wishing that Gimli was here, Legolas gave a slight sigh and followed the hobbits into the woods. Halden ceased his complaints, seeing that his king had chosen this path, and followed without complaint. His deep loyalty was keeping down whatever worries he might have, because he has one thing above all, and that is faith. The first thing Legolas noticed as they entered the forest was the lack of activities and noise. The woodpeckers ceased their pecking, and no squirrel leapt from branch to branch. This place did change in the brief period that Legolas was gone. Without the magic of Lady Galadriel and Lord Celeborn, everything seemed different, everything seemed more deadened. A moderate amount of stench filled their nostrils as they took a few steps further into the woods, until the smell was almost overpowering. At first, Legolas' delicate elven nose registered the smell, which made him pause. It made even the steadfast Halden uneasy. Merry and Pippin gladly ventured ahead, not aware of something they were not meant to be aware of. The smell of cadaverous dead bodies filled the forest, mixed with the stench of the Orcs. Legolas turned around briefly to share a look with Halden, who confirmed his thoughts. This place was once an enchanted home for the higher elves, a place of wonder, but now it was transformed into a dusty graveyard. Sadness filled his eyes as Halden silently shook his head. As the company made their way slightly deeper into the forest, all source of light was blocked out as if a giant ceiling was place above the forest. Legolas' vision was, however, not dimmed, for his elven sense of perception borders on supernatural. His hearing also adjusted to the quietness of the environment, and the slighty crunching of the Hobbits' boots. Suddenly, a noise came from the West. Even before the hobbits heard it, a few seconds before Halden sensed it, it had already entered Legolas' ears. Frozen in motion, Legolas listened intently, hoping to distinguish it for what it was before it got too close. Very soon, Halden noticed it too, and pulled the Hobbits to a stop. Merry was indeed almost surprised into giving a yelp when Halden promptly covered his mouth and pulled him into a patch of nearby bushes. Orcs. This sound came so distinctly now, the guttural sound of the black tongue. With a certain sense of hatred and superiority, Legolas listened to the group as the four Orcs made their was here, poking into the bushes occasionally with their clubs and spears. "Don't see nobody." One of them complained, as his club got stuck between thick tree branches, and Legolas had to stifle back a laughter. "They say invaders into Lothlorien, but I, I say we see no one, so no one entered." The other three nodded in consent. But whoever sent out the orders to them must have been of a higher ranking, for it carried a certain weight. Even though those Orcs thought it to be useless, they still carried out the orders. The oldest one was the first to turn back. With a swish of his club, which barely missed Pippin's hair, he turned around and mentioned for the rest of the Orcs to follow him, as they walked back directly towards the way they came. Then things started to bother Legolas. There was something wrong. Even though it seemed that those Orcs were sure that there wasn't an enemy in sight, one of the kept on fingering his spear, as if waiting for the inevitable. As they disappeared into the trees, the oldest Orc tossed a backwards glance before his figure was completely hidden by the bushes. Legolas looked at Halden and found him looking right back at him. Halden nodded, then imitated the backwards glance. Legolas immediately got the gist of it and fingered his short sword. They both knew what they saw, and it disturbed them. Suddenly, it occurred to Legolas. 'They knew that the company was there!' He thought, rather grimly. 'They were trying to lure us into a false sense of security, to lure us into the woods!' Halden voiced his thoughts. "It's a trap." He whispered so silently that the hobbits appeared to not have heard. Deeply troubled, Legolas decided it was the best time to retreat. The continual silence around them was making him uncomfortable. Suddenly, Merry made a move as if moving out of the bush. Reacting as fast as he could, Halden's arm shot out and just barely managed to grab Merry's collar, pulling him back into the bushes. With a soft "Arg" Merry landed back onto the soft earth with a thud. He rubbed at his buttocks sorely and glared at Halden, who glared back with the fierceness of an elder looking at a child, it made Merry suppress the moan which threatened to come out. Instead, Merry sighed in resignation, and waited with the rest of the company. Suddenly, a movement to the left caught Legolas' eyes. With eyes sharp as a hawk, he saw a silver blaze flying towards Pippin, and flung himself at Pippin. Within a second, he knocked over Pippin and together, they both rolled out of the bushes. One of the broken branches poked painfully into Legolas' ribs, but he ignored it, and as they came to a stop, the dust rose all around them, forming a translucent screen around them. Through the dim haze of the dust Legolas could make out figures coming at them at a high speed, stomping the ground in their haste. The only safe assumption to make about these figures was that they were Orcs. Muttering an elven curse, Legolas turned to Pippin to tell him to get moving, only to discover that Pippin had hit the side of his head on a small rock, and was now unconscious. Silently cursing fate, Legolas picked up the unconscious Pippin by the waist, and flipped him over his back, and carried him with one arm like a potato sack over his shoulder, as he pulled out one of his short sword, it was the only weapon he could use since he had to carry Pippin on his back. "Fool of a Took." Legolas said ironically to himself, and started to run, with Pippin bouncing behind his back. The dead weight slowed him down considerably, and he could hear the footsteps of the Orcs coming at him from the behind. As they got too close, Legolas turned around for the confrontation. To his surprise, there were less of them than he had expected, more than half had gone after Halden and Merry, and Legolas could only pray that they make it alright. Legolas caught the first blow by the nearest Orc with his arm, and since he could only use one arm, the shockwave created by the blow could be felt all the way down his shoulders, but he held, every muscle in his right arm straining. He was only secretly glad that he knew better than to pick up Pippin with his sword arm. If that happened, he would be almost trapped. Although he was almost equally adept with the sword with his left hand, he preferred nonetheless to use his right arm. With all his efforts, Legolas pushed the sword away. The Orc took a step back, and thrust his sword right at Legolas' neck, but Legolas ducked, the blow went harmlessly over the top of his head. He pushed out his own sword which went completely through the Orc. Almost instantaneously, he had to turn left because an Orc from the right was trying to get a poke at Pippin. Then, he discovered that it was almost impossible to fight with Pippin on his back. Reaching a decision fast, Legolas dove out of battle by the closest gap he could find, and made for the cave. It wasn't a cave, more of a curve into a mountain, it was very shallow, but it provided a very good defense position, since the enemy has a very narrow passage, they can only come at the defender from the narrow tunnel. It provided little arm space to use the swords, which would be just another advantage for Legolas, since his bow-and-arrow and short sword did not require a large amount of space to wield. Branches cracked and broke beneath his now-heavy footsteps as he made it towards the cave. Lothlorien was almost exactly as he remembered it, but something about it, a certain liveliness was gone. It was almost as if the forest itself was dead. The trees still lived, but with a deadened air surrounding it, almost as if it was shrouded in a funeral shroud. Soon, his breathing became heavy, and he never felt so tired. He never knew how much Pippin could weigh him down, but inside his heart there was no such alternative as leaving Pippin behind, it just never occurred to him. 


End file.
